After showing a steady improvement since the start of the 21-day nationwide lockdown, the availability of essential goods at retail stores and e-commerce platforms dipped in the two days ending April 10, according to a survey by community platform LocalCircles.
The percentage of consumers able to buy essential goods via offline stores dropped to 65% between April 9 and 10, compared to 70% between April 5 and 6, the survey, which was conducted in partnership with the Department of Consumer Affairs and covered over 16,000 responses from consumers located in 181 districts, showed.
For online platforms, this figure dropped down to 50% between April 9 and 10, compared to 53% in the previous reporting period. “The availability of essential goods at retail stores and via ecommerce platforms has started to take a hit,” LocalCircles said in its latest report.
Between March 20 and 22, the period prior to the Janta Curfew from when India began witnessing a supply crunch, the availability of essential goods via offline stores stood at 83% and 65% for online platforms. Supplies of these products over the last 18 days have not been able to recover to this level, the survey showed.
The dip in supplies also comes when certain states are intensifying the level at which Covid-19 hotspots are being locked down and not even allowing stores selling essentials to operate there. Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles, said this could be the reason that consumers were reporting a dip in availability of essentials.
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