Here come the 'LIVE' consumers

There was a time when only the affluent and the salaried scurried to neighbourhood malls for groceries. That time will soon be history, suggests a Nielsen India survey. Pretty soon, two growing shopper segments - low-income value explorers, or LIVE, and first-time modern trade shoppers (FTMTS) – will fuel growth of modern retail and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, and hence receive the latter’s attention (which will also be on rural consumers).

For, the two new segments will add $3 billion (Rs16,638 crore) in consumer good sales by 2015. Adrian Terron, executive director of Nielsen India, says that half of the LIVE households have already migrated to branded products.

Some 5% of LIVE consumer spend is hogged by modern trade now. It is expected to reach $175 million (Rs971 crore) by 2015 as several of them go for bulk, larger and combo packs.

Luring FTMTS can also pay handsome dividends for FMCG companies and retailers as this segment is known to be prone to impulsive shopping, buying more than they had planned, said Terron.

To encourage consumers to buy more, focus will be on in-store activities.

So, differentiated promotional exercises will increase. "As a result, apart from goods, we will see more services forming a part of modern retail. For example, we could see additions such as hair salon, laundry service and so on in the departmental stores," said Terron.