Here Is Why Shopkeepers Have Stopped Giving Toffees Instead Of Loose Cash

Have you ever been pissed when the shopkeeper handed you a toffee instead of loose cash? We bet you have! This brazen method has been prevalent among shopkeepers for a long period of time. This practice of handing away toffees in place of the remaining change has been quite irritating. But the pandemic has changed everything in the last two years.

It has been observed that the practice of giving toffees instead of loose cash has declined significantly. While shopping nowadays you will rarely find your pockets filled with toffees. Though the cheeky gesture of the shopkeepers to keep us from getting the change in cash was frustrating, it is sad that the toffee business in India has almost come to a standstill with the introduction of UPI platforms in our lives.

The growth leader at Cred and Dunzo, Abhishek Patil, interpreted how the candy brands are going through huge losses as people are getting used to UPI platforms in India. The LinkedIn post regarding this matter became viral.

Here is the viral LinkedIn post on the decline of candy brands

Abhishek says,

“Before UPI, shopkeepers would shamelessly trade toffees for loose cash, a transaction that wasn’t happening other way round. These small amounts over days did wound up to becoming large sums of money, as accepted by many buyers in studies”

The GrowthX founder explains that as people have started paying the exact amount with the introduction of UPI, the need for change in cash has become less, so the practice of handing over toffees has thereby stopped.

Patil’s post has been shared with more than 100 LinkedIn users during the time of filing this report

Patil also mentioned that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, buyers are asked to and often opt for contactless payments which are mostly digital. As a result, the inclination towards digital payments led to the decline of the toffee or candy businesses.

As mentioned by the entrepreneur, toffee brands like Mondelez, Mars, Parle, etc have reported a sharp decline in the sales of toffees

According to his LinkedIn post, Hershey reported that India is one of the worst-hit markets after the pandemic. Abhishek says that companies need to keep an eye on the reasons like why would people buy the product and what can bring a change in their buying behaviour.

As per the data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the quotation by PTI, the payment through UPI platforms has crossed a milestone of ₹11 lakh crore in the month of September.

On the platform launched in 2016, a total of 678 crore transactions were done during the month.