With the nation in lockdown and people forced to work from home, Paytm Mall which is the online shop of Paytm, is witnessing a daily exponential increase in demand for smartphones and laptops even during this period.
The Alibaba and SoftBank funded e-commerce firm’s senior vice-president Srinivas Mothey issued a statement on April 29 that although laptops, mobiles and related accessories fall in the category of non-essential goods, they should be considered ‘essential’.
"Laptops, mobile phones, and accessories, computer hardware, webcams, all these things should be allowed to be part of essential goods," Mothey said.
Without them working from home is not possible for many who are struggling to work efficiently and productively. Paytm Mall users have added these items and academic books and study material to their ‘wishlist’. They intend to purchase the wishlisted items as soon as the lockdown is lifted.
Huge wishlist
The firm has recorded over 3.5 lakh requests for non-essential products and requests for mobile phones having witnessed a growth of 200 per cent.
Breaking down the details of the users’ wishlists, the statement said over 75,000 requests have been for mobile phones and 50,000 wished to buy laptops, after the lockdown ends. Desktop computers, too have been on the top of much requested products.
Accessories that are important to sustain productive work from home namely laptop charging cords, phone chargers, headphones and study tables have recently been in demand in record high numbers.
India Cellular and Electronics Association, ICEA a mobile phones industry body and traders body Confederation of All India Traders, CAIT have submitted a request to Home Minister Amit Shah for allowing sales of handsets.
Moreover, 97 percent of broadband internet users access it via their mobile phones. All industry stakeholders agree that lifting the ban on the supply of such non-essentials that support work from home is the need of the hour.
