Festive sale: Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal sell goods worth Rs 22k-cr

E-commerce firms such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal are witnessing blockbuster sales for their festive sale events. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to e-commerce, as an increasing number of consumers shop online with greater frequency.

The online festive season has had a strong start over October 15-19, 2020. New estimates revealed by research firm RedSeer Consulting on Wednesday show that $3.1billion (Rs 22,000 crore) of goods were sold online from brands and sellers in the first 4.5 days of the online sale event. This means that 77 per cent of RedSeer’s online sales forecast was already achieved in the first 4.5 days of the sale.

The firm had earlier projected that total festive sales of the e-commerce firms would cross $7 billion for the festive season.

RedSeer said the first few days of this year’s online sale season saw a more explosive start compared to the last year- and is on track to meet its forecast of $4 billion by end of the event. This is a 50 per cent growth compared to the initial festive events hosted last year.

E-commerce giant Flipkart witnessed growth of at leat 40 per cent for its flagship festive sale ‘Big Billion Days’ (BBD) compared to the same event last year, according to sources. The Walmart-owned firm achieved its target in just three days of the week-long BBD which ended on Wednesday. In just about two days of the BBD this year, marketplace sellers have witnessed the kind of growth they saw during the 6 days of the event last year.

Flipkart did not reveal the sales figures, but said that this year BBD saw 1.5X number of transacting sellers compared to last year. Among these, more than 35 per cent witnessed 3X more sales compared to last year.

“The remarkable enthusiasm from consumers has ushered in green shoots of recovery for everyone across the value chain,” said Nandita Sinha, vice president, customer growth and engagement, Flipkart. “The revival in demand and resurgence of consumption is expected to remain even after BBD.”

In the first 5 days, Flipkart has already delivered 10 million shipments with over 3.5 million shipments delivered by its Kirana partners (compared to 1 million deliveries last BBD). These shipments happened between Oct 16-21 across categories such as mobiles, fashion, electronics, and home furnishing categories. These deliveries were made across the country ranging from Indo-Pak border in Gujarat to 5,000 feet above sea level in Siliguri, West Bengal, and through the jungles of Gir forest. The platform witnessed 110 orders placements per second.

BBD further brought forth small businesses from smaller towns. Within the 35 per cent new seller base this BBD, around 60 per cent of the sellers were from tier-2 and tier- 3 towns.

Flipkart Samarth programme for artisans and weavers saw a 7X growth in the number of sellers. The top-performing categories under this programme included handloom cotton saree and home decor.

This year’s BBD reached far and wide with digital and financial constructs such as EMIs and ‘Pay Later’. BBD witnessed more than 55 per cent increase in digital payments transactions on Flipkart with a sharp increase in the new to digital customer base.

Another e-commerce firm Snapdeal also concluded its “Kum Mein Dum” Diwali sale. The 5-day sale was noticeable for the extensive involvement of sellers from the physical markets. They brought online a vast assortment of popular products - across home, fashion, electronics, mobiles and tablets and daily needs - previously available mostly offline.

The impact of this was visible in the choices made by buyers. About 80 per cent of consumers chose a regional or a local brand for their Diwali purchases vis-a-vis 20 per cent who opted for national and international brands. The comparable percentage was 65 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively, last festive season.

Nearly 70 per cent of the orders were received by sellers located beyond the top 5 metropolitan areas of the country. There is a steady flow of orders also to sellers in smaller centres like Avinashi in Tamil Nadu for textiles, Palitana in Gujarat for footwear, Rewa in Madhya Pradesh for gaming accessories. Other such places included Muktsar in Punjab for herbal products and Birlapur in West Bengal for home decor products.

More than 90 per cent of Snapdeal’s orders were placed from non-metro cities. At the conclusion of the sale, buyers from over 3,700 towns across India bought on Snapdeal.

“The extent and depth of orders received and shipped from non-metro cities illustrates the accelerated growth of online commerce in recent months,” said Snapdeal.

E-commerce giant Amazon has also witnessed the biggest ever opening for sellers and brand partners during its flagship festive sale Great Indian Festival (GIF), which started last week. More shoppers and sellers participated in the opening 48 hours of the month-long GIF than any opening two days before. It got orders from close to 98.4 per cent of India's pin codes.

Highlights

• The first few days of this year’s online sale season saw a more explosive start vs last year.
• $3.1billion (Rs 22,000 crore) of goods sold online in the 4.5 days of the sale event, according to RedSeer.
• 77% of RedSeer’s forecasted online sales were already achieved in the first 4.5 days of the sale.
• Key themes driving this year’s sale were affordability, smartphones and tier 2 growth.
• This is resulting in more recovery for brands and sellers.

Flipkart’s BBD sale:

• Over 666 million visits on Flipkart were recorded during BBD.
• Over 52% of these visits recorded from tier-3 cities and beyond.
• The platform witnessed 110 orders placements per second.
• 10 million deliveries achieved with more than 3.5 million deliveries done through Kirana partners in the first 5 days.
• Premium segment of smartphones saw a growth of 3.2X, driven by Apple, Google and Samsung.
• Realme has seen 2X growth compared to last year.
• POCO did higher numbers in BBD 2020 than entire 2019.
• Bharat (Tier III) customers drove the sale of large appliances with nearly 50% demand coming from the region.
• Electronics category witnessed a 2x YoY growth.
• WFH furniture segment witnessed the highest growth in the furniture category.

Snapdeal’s sale event:

• 80% of Snapdeal’s Diwali shoppers chose regional and local brands.
• Increasing participation by offline sellers expands choice for buyers.
• Sellers from smaller cities grab 70% of Diwali orders.
• Users in more than 90% of Indian towns place Diwali orders.