Festive 2026 begins with contrasting Buying Intent: Passenger Vehicles up 56%, while Watches and Water Purifiers trail last year

Key findings

• Passenger Vehicles lead the festive build-up, with Buying Intent 56% above September 2025.
• Laptops are up 17% and Motorcycles 10%, while Mobile Phones are largely unchanged from a year earlier.
• Washing Machines are down 18%, Refrigerators 20% and Watches 26% compared with September 2025.
• Water Purifiers are down 52%, underlining the sharp variation in consumers’ readiness to buy across categories.

Mumbai, 22 October 2026: As brands enter the festive season, the latest findings from BuyingIntent.in show that consumers’ readiness to buy is not rising evenly across categories. While some categories have entered Festive 2026 with stronger Buying Intent than a year ago, others remain significantly below their September 2025 levels.

Passenger Vehicles are the strongest category at this stage of the festive season, with Buying Intent in September 2026 standing 56% above September 2025. The category had already recorded very strong readings in July and August 2026, and although September saw some moderation, it remained substantially ahead of last year.

Among other categories, Laptops rose 17% and Motorcycles 10% year-on-year. Mobile Phones, by contrast, were almost flat, remaining broadly at the same Buying Intent level as in September 2025.

Several festive-linked categories, however, are yet to show similar strength. Washing Machines were down 18%, Refrigerators down 20%, and Watches down 26% compared with September 2025. Water Purifiers recorded the steepest decline, at 52% below last year’s level.

These findings indicate that the festive period is not creating the same level of buying readiness across the market. Some categories are entering the season with clear momentum, while others are starting from a much weaker position.

“The festive season is common to all marketers, but consumers do not approach every category with the same readiness to buy. Our latest readings show that some categories have entered Festive 2026 with strong momentum, while others are well below where they stood a year ago.”

“For marketers, the more relevant question is not simply whether it is festive season, but whether their category is seeing stronger Buying Intent, and more importantly, whether their own brand is gaining within that category. Festive opportunity is never distributed evenly.”

“That is why continuous measurement matters. It helps marketers see not only where Buying Intent is rising, but also where it is weakening, flattening, or shifting across categories,” said N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research.

The findings also reinforce an important point for festive planning: categories can behave very differently even within the same seasonal period. A broad festive push in the market does not automatically translate into stronger Buying Intent everywhere. For brands, understanding their category’s current direction is essential to judging how much consumer readiness actually exists at this point in the season.

BuyingIntent.in tracks monthly changes in consumers’ readiness to buy across more than 2,000 brands, helping marketers understand where demand momentum is strengthening and where it is lagging.

About BuyingIntent.in: BuyingIntent.in is TRA Research’s monthly measurement platform that tracks Brand Trust, Brand Desire and Buying Intent across 2,000+ brands. It provides monthly brand, category and geographic insights into consumers’ readiness to buy.

Explore the data: www.buyingintent.in

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