Sector
12 October 2020
Update | Internet
Sector Update | Internet
Internet
Much faster recovery in
IndiaMART
Pre-indicators are encouraging
…traffic on revival trend
Horizontal classifieds surpass pre-COVID levels
Source: MOFSL, Google Trends
(indicate google search data)
Naukri JobSpeak index up 31%
QoQ
Horizontal classifieds, IndiaMART and Justdial, have shown resilient recovery in
terms of traffic. The combined traffic on both platforms is at an all-time high,
having surpassed pre-COVID levels. After declining 35% in April, traffic has
increased ~93%, marking an overall increase of 26% from pre-COVID levels.
Data from Similarweb suggests recovery has been much faster for IndiaMART,
which reported a 43% YoY increase in traffic v/s a 15% YoY increase in Justdial.
While traffic has increased, operational recovery to similar levels would come
with a lag. This is on account of a sharp drop in paid suppliers on these
platforms in1QFY21, which impacted collections. The sporadic recovery in traffic
is also reflected in business inquiries / total listings, which have increased in
IndiaMART/Justdial sequentially. Recovery in traffic/inquiries should fuel paid
campaigns in the near-to-medium term.
2QFY21 has seen a noteworthy uptick in hiring activity at 31% sequentially, v/s
50% decline in 1QFY21. While hiring is yet to reach last year’s levels – and was
down 23% in Sept’20 v/s Sept’19 – marked recovery has been seen in the last
few months from 40–60% decline in April-June.
Overall decline in hiring activity has been the highest in
Hotel/Restaurant/Airlines /Travel (-71%), Retail (-50%), and Oil & Gas / Power (-
45%). On the other hand, industries such as Pharma/Biotech (-4%), Insurance (-
6%), FMCG (-11%), and BPO/ITES (-17%) have remained relatively resilient.
As more and more jobs are posted, traffic on
Naukri.com
has inched up by 35%
from lows of Apr’20. However, as of Sept, traffic is down 37% from pre-COVID
levels. Gradual recovery in traffic should eventually reflect in billings and
revenue for the portal (in that order).
Real estate (RE) portals have been hard hit due to the decline in total absorption
(70% QoQ decline in 1QFY21) and the reluctance for large-ticket spending at this
time.
Traffic on two of the largest real estate portals (99acres and MagicBricks) fell by
55% (combined) in April. A strong uptick is seen from the lows (92% growth
from April); traffic on these portals is down by just 13% from pre-COVID
levels.
Data from Google Trends suggests 99acres is able to maintain leadership in a
duopoly market.
Traffic on IndiaMART/Justdial and the standalone companies of Info Edge have
seen a sporadic recovery, led by: (a) quicker rebound in underlying industries,
(b) growing digitization, and (c) the shift in market share from traditional offline
players to their online counterparts.
Gradual recovery in recruitment portals; JobSpeak index up 31% QoQ
Source: MOFSL, Company
Strong recovery on RE portals; traffic down just 13% from pre-COVID levels
Operations to see a lag effect in near term
Research analyst: Anmol Garg
(Anmol.Garg@motilaloswal.com)
12 October 2020
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Investors are advised to refer through important disclosures made at the last page of the Research Report.
Motilal Oswal research is available on www.motilaloswal.com/Institutional-Equities, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Factset and S&P Capital.