KOCHI: The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown that followed have thrown the sales of automobiles, consumer durables and white goods into a tailspin. But, there are a few products which flew off the shelves during the days when the shops were opened. Yes, you guessed it right. Hair trimmers went off the shelves like hotcakes, followed by hand blenders.
If the uncertainty in re-opening of barbershops triggered the demand for trimmers, the public interest to explore different segments of cooking made the hand blender a favourite item in the kitchen. Though hair-cutting salons started operations from Wednesday, it’s still a long queue out there and the shopkeepers expect trimmer sales to grow at a fast clip in coming days as well. “The lockdown has brought down the sales of home appliances completely. But, there is a steady demand for trimmers and hand blenders,” said Sudheesh, general manager (sales), Bismi Home Appliances, Kaloor.
After their locks became unmanageable, some sought the help of their family members to cut the tresses while others tried the haircut themselves. Sudheesh said nearly 10 trimmers and hand blenders are being sold on a daily average ever since the shops were allowed to open. “Earlier we used to sell the same number but over several days. We were forced to fill the stock every two to three days due to the high demand,” he added.
The soaring demand for trimmers is also visible on online platforms. “When Flipkart opened its operations in my area, I placed an order for a trimmer. Like others, I was unsure of the lockdown period. How many days can I spend without doing a haircut and shaving?” asked Sunil Kumar, a Palakkad resident who recently purchased a trimmer from the online website. Meanwhile, the government decision to open online classes for students has pushed up the demand for home-based inverters to get rid of power outage.
“Due to lockdown, shops were closed for over a month. It is early to comment on the trend. But there is an increasing demand from the public for inverters. We have to analyse whether the demand is a steady one as normally the season sale of inverters has reached its last leg,” said Nandhu, an official with V Guard, an electrical appliance maker. However, the sale of air-conditioners plummeted this season. “ACs have been the worst hit segment. Most of our sale usually happens during the months between January and April. But this year we are going through a rough patch as only a few ACs were sold in the period,” said a salesperson working with a home appliances showroom in Kochi.