Indians like to shop with their family. Well, anyone could tell you that, you don’t need McKinsey & Co for this. The consultancy’s recent report on how people shop for clothes in India, Brazil, and China (they have surveyed Russia too, but not in particular for apparel) says just that. Research firms like Technopak have done more in-depth and better studies in this segment.
Still, its redeeming feature is that it compares these three countries, in different stages of economic evolution. Throws up some interesting contrasts to munch over. India is perhaps the slowest to adapt modern retail among all these countries and it would be interesting to see how the ‘mall culture’ changes shopping habits. Will Indians stop shopping with their family, and rather shop with friends, some five years down the line?
Sample some interesting insights from the report: Two-fifths of people surveyed in China said they wear similar clothing to work, formal social occasions, and dates with friends and family. India reported 13%. Chinese are more patriotic than us, at least when it comes to brands. Only a quarter of them said foreign brands are better than local brands.
More than half of Indians found international brands superior. But young Chinese, it seems prefer international brands more. Indians spent an estimated 59 euros (Rs 3,363) in six months before the survey was done, while Russians spent the most at 198 euros (Rs 11,286). Indians’ reason for shopping for clothes is mostly for special occasions, for special events. That will make our retailers particularly vulnerable to upsets during festival seasons, like the November-December period, when they normally rake it in.
A lot of window shopping will happen in other months! Even if Indians don’t spend so much on clothes, we look forward the most to buying clothes. Maybe, that’s because we don’t buy them so often.