In select areas of Maharashtra Ahmednagar, Raigad and Vidarbha regions Smartphone and laptop shopping has suddenly picked up in select pockets of Maharashtra including Ahmednagar, Raigad and Vidarbha regions due to rumours of a 25-day absolute lockdown.
It is surprising that the consumers are getting hands on affordable smartphones and laptops for the kids to continue their online school and school examinations. For Smartphone retailers now the markets are more crowded than usual, mainly to stock essentials.
Most of the mobile retailers are of the idea that the unexpected higher footfall has been due to certain panic buying. Moreover, laptops are majorly in demand but short in supply, so consumers are resorting to smartphones for now. Moreover, it is anticipated that a good sell out of some end-of-life models are expected.
However, Tier 1 cities like Mumbai and Pune are relatively calmer where consumers are well accustomed to online shopping by now. The state has close to 12,000 mom-and-pop mobile phone stores which account for 10% of overall sales in India. Out of 150 million smartphones sold in calendar year 2020, 15 million were sold in Maharashtra, totalling roughly Rs 18,000 crore worth of sales.
Besides these, long-format retail chains Croma, Reliance Digital are anyways bracing up for loss of business as close to 50% of their showrooms are located inside malls or premium market complexes. Reliance Digital has 50 multi-brand electronics outlets in Maharashtra, Croma has 45.