Did Virat Kohli blitz impact Diwali shopping volumes?

Your shopping habits can be influenced by a number of factors like your tastes, your time available, your family’s preferences etc. But would you imagine that your Diwali shopping could be impacted by the batting of Virat Kohli. It may be hard to believe but there is hard and indisputable data to back the fact that the classic knock that Kohli played against Pakistan at Melbourne on Sunday did impact the fortunes of Diwali shopping in a big way. In fact, there has been a correlation check conducted where the data showed a direct correlation between the innings played by Kohli and the volume of Diwali shopping.

The above chart shows the extent of UPI transactions on a real time basis on 23rd October. That was not only the day of the cricket match but also the day ahead of Diwali, normally a busy shopping day. However, if you go by the UPI transactions they fluctuated wildly during the day and there was some music to the entire gyrations. For instance, the shopping was at its peak using UPI prior to the start of the match. However, once the match started, the volumes of UPI transactions fell sharply. This does not mean that UPI transactions became zero, but just that the momentum turned from positive to negative.

To be more precise, the UPI transactions do show 4 distinct phases in the UPI based transactions during 23rd October. The first yellow shaded graph shows the UPI momentum picking up in the morning prior to the match commencing. However, post the match commencing, although it was Pakistan batting first, there was a visible loss of momentum in UPI transaction as showed in the green shade. The most striking is the blue shade, which shows Kohli batting and leading India to victory. That phase almost saw UPI transactions drop precipitously. Of course, post the match, the positive momentum started again.

Is this a good reflection of Diwali shopping, since these are just UPI transactions? It is not perfect, but the trend is too stark to miss. One can play devil’s advocate and argue that UPI also has many other transactions. Also Diwali shopping is not just via UPI. It also happens via net banking, credit cards, physical shopping, cash on delivery etc. However, UPI is fairly representative and it surely shows that a high profile match with a high profile batsman and with lots of excitement can be bad news for the volume of UPI transactions. Remember, India is a cricket crazy nation, so this is not entirely unfathomable.

The relationship between shopping and cricket confinement was always there. Now, thanks to UPI, you have real time data that correlates such transactions to different time pockets and that has brought out the trend. That is understandable in a country where cricket is a virtual religion, T-20 is the religious text and players like Sachin and Kohli are nothing short of demi-gods. Even as most people would have relished Kohli’s masterclass, it sends out an important message that they need to plan their shopping order handling in future based on the pressures created by such high profile cricket matches.