Hello Folks,
Welcome to the second edition of Buzzing Trendz, where every Friday, I handpick and share 3 insightful articles or stories covering the latest in Business, Tech, and Trends. My goal is to cut through the noise and bring valuable, engaging content directly to you. If you enjoyed this, please give a thumbs up and share it with your friends—your support encourages me to find more stories like these.
In this week's digest, we discuss:
The lack of confidence among Indian consumers in the economy
The changing dynamics of young movie-goers in Hollywood
The rise of Tier 2+ cities in the e-commerce landscape
Without further ado, let's start.
The confidence of Indian consumers are declining regarding their financial situation and the broader economy.
Despite somewhat positive inflation stats posted by the RBI this month, Indian consumers are becoming a bit pessimistic about their spendings and the economy, according to a recent consumer survey report by the RBI.
Concerns about layoffs, rising among unemployment and—most importantly— the controversial rising food price inflation seem to be the primary factor behind dampening the mood of the average consumer.
Now why is this important? Well, a negative sentiment definitely act as catalyst for the consumers wanting to spend less, which can have a ripple effect through the entire economy. This is why the RBI conducts this bi-monthly consumer confidence survey on their inflation expectations across 19 major cities. As per the latest report released this month, the expectations fell down harder than the last report that was released on May this year. What are your thoughts on the same? Let me know in the comments.
Here is the latest report: https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=22465
Special Thanks to The Daily Brief by Zerodha for bring this into my notice and creating an insightful news byte.
America’s Hollywood is struggling bring back young audiences.
The U.S. box office is struggling to recover post-COVID, with fewer young people returning to theatres and a declining number of screens. As it turns out only something that’s of IMAX scale manages to get the attention the young audience and most of them now prefers streaming movies at home anytime on an OTT platform.
The numbers for screens also appears to have contracted with fewer screens expansions world wide. This is giving a hard time to major studios, convincing them to rethink their content strategy and shorten the theatrical release window for release. The theatres are now trying to attract movie-goers with perks like extra-popcorn etc to bring people into the theatres. As a matter of fact, if you see this trend carefully, something similar is happening in India too!
Indian audience is also shifting to a similar mindset where people are preferring films that are of larger scale and those which are not, their release window is shortened and preempting a quicker OTT release.
Definitely checkout the WSJ article with respect to the American audience here:
https://www.wsj.com/business/media/how-going-to-the-movies-is-changing-in-charts-745e7e78
India’s Tier 2+ Cities Are Redefining Online Shopping
In a recent report by Meesho, it was observed that over 80% of shoppers hail from Tier 2, 3, and 4+ cities, highlighting a shift in the e-commerce industry from the common notion of Tier 1 and some Tier 2 cities mostly accounts over the overall Indian e-commerce audience. These consumers, especially from Tier 4+ cities, are frequent repeat buyers, particularly in categories like women's fashion, footwear, and baby care.
Gen Zs appear to be the fastest-growing demographic in India, with one in three shoppers under the age of 25, as per the report. Additionally, vernacular languages and voice search have seen a surge raising the demand for adoption of regional languages and and support more user friendly search methods.
For more insights, checkout Meesho’s “Smart Shopper Report”, which offers a comprehensive analysis of dynamic online shopping trends in India for H1 2024:
https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/meesho-smart-shopper-report-h1-2024-pdf/270870210
That’s a wrap for this week’s edition of Buzzing Trendz! I hope you found these stories insightful and thought-provoking. If you enjoyed this newsletter, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an update.
I’ll be back next Friday with more fresh insights on the latest in Business, Tech, and Trends. Until then, stay curious and keep exploring!
Cheers,
Arijit