When pollution masks join the list of essential Diwali items, its time to introspect the air condition of Delhi. The air-purifiers’ sale rose to a new high as people became more and more concern for their health. Let’s know more about the new emerging market.
Diwali 2018 was notorious for Delhi. The capital scored the lowest on Air Quality Index (AQI). People ridiculed the order given by the Supreme Court. They don’t want clean atmosphere as they are keeping their home atmosphere clean by air-purifiers.
Demand in the Market
Mask sellers had a bumper Diwali, with sales overshooting last year’s figures already. Sangeet Singh, a mask seller in Gurgaon, tells us, “Of course, it’s nothing to be happy about, because we have to breathe in the same air. But we knew over a month ago that it would again be a bumper Diwali for us. Closer to the festival, we ran out of masks almost every second day.”
This year, the sale began a month in advance. Usually, people ask about the price, effectiveness and durability of the purifiers. This time, they were well aware and came with a clear mindset.
Till last year, 80-90% of the people who came to us just had queries. They asked about the price and whether air purifiers were effective. Sales were limited to a few customers. This year, that has changed. Awareness has increased and most who come to the shop end up purchasing.
A seller from Gurugram
Nowadays, the price is not on mind but effectiveness and durability is. Since air purifiers sell for over Rs 10,000, earlier, customers would often haggle over the price, which has ended now. “People would ask if there is any discount on the product or not,” recalls Vinesh, who owns an electronics showroom in south Delhi, adding, “But this year is different. People don’t ask about discounts. Their queries have changed to which model is most effective. Our sales for air purifiers increased three-fold this year. Masks were always popular, but 2018 is when air purifiers became a popular buy for Diwali.”
Exponentially growth in market
According to Amazon, in 2016, people bought 4 times more air purifier than they bought in 2015. In 2017, sales increased by 5 times that of 2016. In 2018, October sales eclipsed the September sale by a huge margin of 450%. It is seen that cities like Mumbai and Delhi are the main contributors of this growth.
Why the market is increasing at this rate?
A very simple reason – prevention is better than cure. According to WHO, in 2016, 1.1 lakh children died due to air pollution in India. So, it is obvious that people don’t want to risk their lives. Since they cannot control the outside, but they can control their house. Though instead of buying these purifiers on one hand and spending lavishly on firecrackers from another hand doesn’t sound logical.
