22% rise in users on Q-commerce apps during pre-festive season: Tonic Worldwide report

New Delhi: GIPSI, the HI+AI insights division of Tonic Worldwide launched The Festive Report Part-2. 

The report captures 6 performance and growth focused insights. 

Following the Part-1 report, GIPSI now highlights insights on various aspects of growth such as quick commerce, 1st party data, App metrics, review strategies and much more. 

Key highlights 

Festive shopping shifts from planned to impulse: There is a 22% rise in users on India’s top five quick commerce apps in pre-festive 2024 that highlights the increasing preference for quick commerce among Indian consumers. 

The convenience and instant gratification offered by these platforms are driving this trend, opening up opportunities for a wide range of product categories from pooja essentials to electronics. 

In essence this has changed the core behavior during festive season from planned to impulse buying. Brands should leverage these platforms as we will see consumers make impulse buys on quick commerce platforms this festive season.

First Party (Data) then Nurture: Consumers lookout for offers turns into a hunt during festive season which makes them explore multiple avenues for maximum value of their purchase.

The 3x rise in mentions of ‘sign-up discounts’ on X since Jan’24 indicates that consumers are willing to share data in exchange for value-adds, which in turn helps brands generate first party data to nurture post festive season. 

This is the time to collect 1PD and use the post festive season to nurture the leads. 

Product reviews: Online product reviews have become the pre-purchase quality check for Indian consumers. Now, they have a challenge to break through the clutter of dishonest reviews as data reveals a 96% rise in chatter expressing concerns and complaints about ‘fake reviews’ on X from May to July 2024. 

Over 86K posts on Instagram hashtagged #triedandtrue, #notsponsored & #whatiorderedvswhatigot shows how the search for dishonest reviews are not just limited to marketplaces but go beyond. Quantity of reviews without quality can raise doubts. 

Music, video streaming and inspiration:  Festive is a time when consumers are hungry for inspiration as we see 82% rise in ‘recipe ideas’ and 20x rise in ‘home decor ideas’ searches during festive 2023 compared to pre-festive 2023. 

Users are found listening to music for 3K+ more minutes in festive season 2023 compared to pre festive 2023 which indicates consumers spend time indulging in what they love, i.e.: to listen to music, watch content on OTT channels & scroll through social media for inspiring ideas. These are the best places to catch the consumers with contextual personalisation. 

‘Apps’ with benefits:  A 7% drop in consumer retention on India’s top five online shopping apps points to a change in consumer behavior during festive seasons and sales. 

Today, app deletions occur not just due to lack of need but also because of issues like insufficient storage, the search for better alternatives, and the desire to experiment with new apps. 

This indicates that brands should assess consumer loyalty based on transaction activity rather than just installation or uninstallation metrics.

BOFU period: There were 2.2 million more searches for sales in pre-festive 2024 compared to pre-festive 2023 indicating that consumers anticipate festive sales and try to make the most of the period. 

When the consumers are already in-market brands with low budgets can skip directly to BOFU.

Speaking on the findings of The Festive report, Anjali Malthankar, National Strategy Director and GIPSI Co-Head, said, “Part-2 of the GIPSI Festive Report shines a light on matters that matter most to marketers - actionable growth insights. The report is rich with insights from topics like quick commerce that have an immediate implication for the festive season and are reshaping the customer expectations to unique perspectives on known problems of app metrics under the section 'App-with-benefits. It further includes unique insight buckets such as First Party (data) Then Nurture (Leads), a great hack for 1P Data and how to leverage festive season for the same. While Part-1 and Part-2 of the GIPSI Festive Report stand independent of each other, together they deliver a great start to all marketers with a digital agenda this festive season.”

Unmisha Bhatt, Co-Founder and CSO at Tonic Worldwide, expressed, “As the festive season kicks in, AdEx is set to surge with brands vying for consumer attention. With digital platforms taking center stage and new commerce trends emerging, we recognize the need for marketers to maximize the ROI of their festive ad spending. Part 2 of our Festive Report is a step in that direction. For the first time, we are unveiling festive ‘performance-focused’ insights that can guide and enhance media strategies for growth marketers. While our first edition focused on deepening customer engagement and building brand consideration, this second edition aims to power strategies targeting the crucial lower end of the purchase funnel.”