dvgangwal

[dvgangwal]

Dhruv Gangwal’s Blog: How sales of smartwatches are doing in the pandemic.

These are very uncertain historical times we are living in right now. We will be speaking about these times to our children, telling them stories of how we manage to maintain our health during the pandemic.

During uncertain times lies opportunities; opportunities of making a lot of money for companies, opportunities finding and knowing ourselves, opportunities of being more healthy than ever. We have seen many social and personal changes during the pandemic, such as going to the gym (health and fitness), eating out, socializing, work, and school. Smartwatches have helped a lot of us record, analyze, and respond to better maintain our fitness, especially now more than ever.

Question: How have the changes in the world affected the smartwatch industry? How is the smartwatch industry doing in terms of growth? Who is the industry's market leader?  

Smartwatches are selling well on the online e-commerce market, as the customers of the product are highly motivated to monitor their health and fitness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apple is the current market leader in the smartwatch industry-leading with 55% of the market share. I believe this is because of their brand loyal customer base, followed by Samsung with 14%. From the articles and blogs I have read over the Internet, Samsung's customer base is built by customers who are more interested in the better services than the provider. I believe this new trend of monitoring our health and fitness wouldn’t die by the COVID-19 vaccine. From what I understand the smartwatch industry would see short-term (4-5 years) firm growth. To change this from being a short term growth to a long term growth, companies like Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, and others would have to come up with alterations and updates for their software. I own an Apple Watch Nike Series3. There have been times when I fell asleep with my watch on me, and realize it was counting my steps for the day before I had even got out of my bed. I know for a fact that I don’t sleepwalk if that is what you are wondering. Small changes like this would help the industry to see a long term growth. Which could be a game-changer for many companies in the industry.

Thank you for reading my blog.

[dvgangwal]

Dhruv Gangwal’s Blog: Online sales of alcohol doing the pandemic.

These are very uncertain historical times we are living in right now. With social distancing many of us have made our own a small society, people we want to spend our free time with.  

The pandemic has moved alcohol sales from restaurants and bars to in-home. People are buying more alcohol from retailers and on the e-commerce market. Online alcohol sales have skyrocketed up to 339% (online sales) compared with the sale from last year this time. I think there is going to be a spike in the numbers as the holiday season is approaching. I estimate this number to at least go up by 130% for upcoming holiday months (November, December, and January).

Question: Which industry has been affected by an increase in alcohol sales? What would be expected to happen to alcohol sales when things will go back to being ‘normal’?

The sales of alcohol have seen an increase due to the pandemic, as consumers are spending more time at home with friends and family. As a result of this, consumers are buying alcohol in bulk. Studies have shown an increase in 1.75L spirits by 23 times compared to last year (Nielsen). As the consumers have started buying in build, the industry has seen a decrease in sales of 6-pack beers by 2%, and have seen an increase in sales for 30-packs (21%) and 24-packs (20%). I believe this trend would see a gradual decrease in a couple of months as Pfizer has announced they are working on a vaccine that could be 90% effective. If the distribution process for the vaccine works according to plan people would be able to enjoy the nightlife again, leading in-home drinking to go down. A decrease in bulk consumption. Saying that I do strongly believe the United States would see an increase in alcohol consumption in the following year. Many of us are tired of just sitting at home, we want to get out enjoy the American culture of meeting new people at bars and clubs. Our freedom will empty our pockets for sure, transferring that money to the alcohol industry.

As of the world's current situation; common ingredients used in making alcoholic beverages like tonic water, lemon, and lime juice have seen increase sales in retail. The sales of such ingredients would be expected to increase why we go back to ‘normal’ as more and more people would want to go out and enjoy their freedom. Retailers should be ready for massive bulk orders of tonic water, lemon, and lime juice as these items are commonly used in making alcoholic beverages.

Thank you for reading my blog.

[dvgangwal]

Dhruv Gangwal’s Blog: Increase in online sales due to the holiday season.

We are a few days away from Thanksgiving and a month away from Christmas. Many of us have already been to the online retail market to buy gifts for our friends and family and many others like myself are visiting the online retail store last minute shopping. Adobe Analytics was able to collect our spending. Americans spent about $2.2 billion on November 2nd, a day before the election, a 31% increase from last year. On November 3rd, Election Day we spent about another $2.00 billion in online shopping.

Question: What factors are being implemented by retailers during the holiday shopping season with the COVID-19 outbreak?

From my readings and observation  are few factors that have helped online retailers increase their sales this holiday season:

Many of us are very scared of standing in long lines waiting for our turn to check out our purchases or process our returns in store. Leading us to the online retail market to buy gifts for our loved ones.

Customers are scare of curbside pickup also, as they doubt the retailers with product quality and damage control for items like furniture, clothes, and other tangible items. We as consumers always want to see to it that we are paying the right price for the right product. Which is why most of us like to make big purchases in person.

The pandemic and the response by the retailers during the holiday shopping season have set new expectations for the customers; particularly having the option of virtual appointments (large orders) and curbside pickups (small orders). The retailers should continue with this practice of virtual appointments and curbside pickups very much after the pandemic. The most effective tools that drive customers to a retailer is the convenience of buying, help in buying, and answers to their questions related to the service and the product. Not many of us like to spend hours in a store, having the option of curbside pickups would be ideal for that consumer segment. The experience of being comfortable and convenient is what brings the customer back to your doorstep.

Thank you for reading my blog.