Gujarati mirror to market

Retail operators gripe that the buying and spending trends of Indian shoppers are still a mystery. But a study by retail chain Shoppers Stop tracking more than 24,000 predominantly Gujarati shoppers shows that they spend less money when the markets crash compared with other groups or communities. “You can definitely link the trading community to consumption patterns but it’s stronger in terms of mindset because the caveat is that Gujaratis are generally conservative spenders,” says N.V. Sivakumar, practice leader for retail at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Exact numbers aren’t available but you can safely say 70% of Gujaratis have some sort of investment in the markets, even
if it’s small.”