Consumers across income levels are buying more premium products in consumer electronics<\/a>, smartphones and fashion this festive season with brands, retailers, e-commerce platforms and malls claiming there has been a 12-20% jump in average billing value and shopping ticket sizes over last year.

Industry executives attributed this buoyancy to pent up demand with consumers going on high ticket purchases ahead of the first normal Diwali since the Covid outbreak after holding back on big value purchases since March-April due to record high inflation, wider penetration of consumer finance schemes at zero interest, normal monsoon and payout of festive bonus by the government.

As per market tracker Counterpoint Research<\/a>, the smartphone retail average selling price (ASP) during the festive season has grown by a record 12% to reach its highest ever at $242. The high demand of Apple<\/a>’s iPhone 14<\/a> has bumped up the overall ASP apart from the fact that one out of every three handsets sold were 5G, it said.

“The roll out of 5G pushed consumers to upgrade their handsets to higher price bands leading to one of the best ever upgrade purchases by consumers,” said Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint.