Lockdown 3.0: Surprise! Not smartphones but this product tops online shopping searches, reveals Flipkart

With the government allowing delivery of non-essential items in orange and green zones via e-commerce route, there has been a massive spike in searches for various items on the Flipkart website. The Walmart-owned company said it had seen an increase in searches for consumer electronic products, including personal grooming equipment such as trimmers. In the past fortnight, trimmers continued to be one of the top 10 most-searched products with a 4.5X increase in searches since the beginning of April.

Search for gas stoves has more than doubled, while fans and air conditioners searches have seen similar trends as temperatures soared across the country, Flipkart said. "With e-commerce being allowed for essential and non-essential products in orange and green zones in specific states, we are seeing an increase in searches for products in categories such as laptops, consumer electronics (such as headphones), mobiles, air conditioners, coolers, t-shirts, and other essentials," Anil Goteti, Senior Vice President at Flipkart, said. 

Further, he added that the company is working with lakhs of sellers and MSMEs across India, and helping them prepare their businesses and workforce to make products available for consumers in this time of need. "At Flipkart, we continue to serve our customers by providing them products at their doorsteps through a safe and sanitized supply chain. This is carried out via robust SOPs which are in line with the guidelines shared by the government and local authorities," he added.

Under the first and second phase of lockdown, which lasted for 40 days, e-commerce companies were allowed to deliver only essential products like grocery and medicines.

With these platforms now being allowed to ship non-essential items as well in select areas, people are thronging online marketplaces to buy smartphones, laptops, notebooks and other items to facilitate work and study from home.