For key occasions and festival seasons, Indians still prefer a personalised shopping experience, accompanied by a ‘touch and feel’ experience, according to a new Visa study.

Online shopping only comes a distant second although e-commerce has made strong inroads, according to data on consumer spending carried out using Visa cards during the week leading to Diwali this year.

Visa processed 7.9 crore transactions, up 49 per cent from last year, involving a spend of ₹ 15,300 crore, up 37 per cent year-on-year.

While 66 per cent of the total spends were recorded at physical points of sale, the remaining were carried out online.

Breaking down the spend via payment cards, there was a 40 per cent year-on-year increase in credit card spend. This is against 35 per cent year-on-year increase in debit card spend. Of the total spends, credit contributed to 50 per cent and debit 48 per cent, respectively.

Chandigarh, along with other smaller cities such as Coimbatore and Pune, showed an increase of up to 64 per cent in debit spends.

“The higher debit penetration by spend from the smaller cities, validates the healthy progress of the nation towards a less cash society,” said TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa.

While the average spend during Diwali was 1.48 times more than that during a normal week, it doubled (to ₹2,900 crore) on Dhanteras (November 5, 2018).

This could also be seen from a 2.9 times increase in the spend for jewellery during the week, compared to a normal week.

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