Geysers category saw almost immediate recovery post-Covid-19 induced lockdown in April 2020. More than 50% of the demand was back on the E-commerce channel even during the peak summer season (May-June 2020). As the lockdown happened during the off-season period for the category, the losses were negligible.
Since a majority of the people continued to work from home, usage of Geysers increased significantly in 2020. It translated into a big jump in Geysers' sales on the E-commerce channel. So when the brick and mortar stores opened without restrictions in 2021, many expected the E-commerce channel to struggle in 2021 - as consumers moved back to traditional shopping ways.
However, as seen from the illustration below, the E-commerce channel managed to sustain 93% of its volumes for Geysers in 2021. After taking a nominal price rise in the second half of 2021, a drop of just 7% is a significant achievement.
The initial thought that the fast the consumer has moved online, the fast the consumer will move back to brick and mortar doesn't seem to hold when seen from the lens of Geysers.
Brands have taken bets based on their understanding of the circumstances. Some have used the wait and watch policy (refer to BAJAJ), some have taken higher risks and reaped higher rewards (HAVELLS). Bajaj volume share has declined on Flipkart while Havells volume share has increased on Flipkart - for Geysers category in 2021
One thing which has come crystal clear from the past two years - the movement of consumers from offline to the online channel has not reversed with the opening up of the markets.