Home appliance repair, domestic workers’ services, and job training were among the top three service categories that were searched for on sulekha.com, an AI-driven tech platform for expert services, since Unlock 1.0 started in June. A study by the platform revealed that home appliance repair saw 11,042 searches, job training 10,387, and domestic workers’ services 10,753 searches between June 1 to June 30, 2020.
The study notes that the spike in searches for domestic workers could have to do with them being allowed to come back to work in some cities. It adds that since companies have laid off employees, this may have led to the surge in job training searches.
Delhi leads the demand for online searches of home appliance repair and job training, while Bengaluru leads the demand for domestic workers’ services.
The study is based on visits and searches by nearly 1,25,650 users across Indian cities that landed on Sulekha in the month of June.
Satya Prabhakar, Founder & CEO, Sulekha, said, “Unlock 1.0 has influenced some interesting trends in demand for services. This is owing to easing of restrictions by the government.”
Online searches for service categories such as paying guests (8,263), massage centres (7,879) and packers & movers (5,702) grew overall by 50% in comparison to May 2020.
There has been a significant increase in searches for service categories such as school tuitions, competitive exam coaching and distance education too, the study says. "Due to the current scenario regarding the lack of clarity on re-opening of educational institutions, we have also witnessed an increase in online searches for service categories such as school tuitions and distance education,” Satya said.
With Unlock 1.0, there has also been an increase in online searches for cleaning services and diagnostic centres. Due to COVID-19, people want to sanitise their surroundings, which might have led to the increase in search for cleaning services, the study says. Some other categories that have also seen an increase in online searches include beauty parlour services, spa centres and pet care services.
The top three cities that are leading in online searches across service categories are Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, followed by Mumbai and Chennai.