Changing behavioral Trends of the Indian Consumer

Abstract

The Indian consumer spending has increased from US$ 133.60 in 1992-93 to US$ 650.74 in 2009-10, a compound annual growth of 10.13 per cent at current prices. The way Indian consumers are spending their money on various items has changed in recent years. The share being spent on the basis (food and beverages) has fallen from 54.07 per cent in 1992-93 to 44.8 per cent in 2002-03. Other items have increased in importance, for example, medical and healthcare spending has increased from 3.5 per cent to 8.5 per cent of total expenditure over the same period, a compound growth rate of 19.71 per cent. Similarly spending on transport and communication has grown at 13.2 per cent. There is a change that is evident in the consumer behaviour that is seen across all categories of products and there are numerous factors that are affecting the same. The changes that are seen are in the form of increase in consumption, change in consumer preferences, buying behaviour, social influences, the way we shop, the reasons behind that, the type of products we buy etc. All these trends are important and show us the path as to how the consumers behaviour is impacting their product purchase.  This research was conducted across interdisciplinary areas such as animation and gaming, consumer durables and retailing to study the change in consumer behaviour in these areas.