NEW DELHI: Sales of air purifiers are witnessing a sharp jump as pollution levels worsen across the country, even as the onset of winter spurs demand for other seasonal appliances including room heaters, geysers and electric kettles. Air-purifier sales on Amazon doubled over the past week alone, while those across e-commerce platforms grew 1.4 times in Sept-Oct compared with the same period last year.Quick-commerce platforms, including Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart too, are seeing a sharp rise in demand, with consumers in Tier 2 cities adding to the growth momentum, analysts and industry experts told TOI.Daily sales of winter appliances on Q-commerce touched Rs 29 lakh in Oct, up 55% from Sept and 50% over Oct last year. Air purifiers led the month-on-month surge, with daily sales jumping 3.7x to Rs 9.6 lakh, while room-heater sales rose 1.6x to nearly Rs 10 lakh, data culled from 1DigitalStack, a market intelligence platform, said.The trend points to an early start to the seasonal buying cycle, with online sales expected to scale up further as temperatures dip. Typically, about 3 in 10 winter appliance sales are registered online.“We are projecting a robust 31% year-on-year growth for the winter appliance category – specifically geysers, room heaters and electric kettles across e-commerce platforms. This season’s surge is heavily catalyzed by the flagship annual festive sales on Amazon and Flipkart marketplaces, which have shifted consumer behaviour towards front-loading their winter utility purchases to maximise discounts,” Samiran Mathur, VP insights and strategy at 1DigitalStack said.The current demand in these appliances is just a fraction of the expected peak. Last year, the quick commerce winter appliance market multiplied 5.7x from Oct to Nov, eventually hitting a Jan peak that was nearly 10x the Oct baseline, the data said. “With the onset of winters, we are seeing air-purifier sales on Amazon.in growing 2x in the last week. Customers are using Rufus, our personalised AI shopping assistant, to find the right fit. To serve immediate needs, we have expanded our air purifier selection on Amazon Now,” an Amazon India spokesperson said.
