E-commerce firms such as Meesho, Amazon and Flipkart are eyeing blockbuster Holi festival sales. The pandemic has accelerated the shift to e-commerce, with an increasing number of consumers shopping online at a higher frequency than last year, according to analysts.
Meesho, a fast-growing internet commerce platform, said it recently hosted a 3-day Holi sale event from March 4-6. Recording over 1.4 crore orders in just 3 days, SoftBank-backed Meesho surpassed last year’s peak Diwali sale orders, which is the biggest festive shopping season in the country.
With a mission to democratize internet commerce, Meesho said it is making e-commerce accessible to consumers across the country. During the recently concluded Holi sale, the company saw nearly 80 per cent of the demand coming from tier 2+ markets like Amravati, Aurangabad, Faizabad, Muzaffarpur and Silchar. The platform also witnessed a sizable increase in the sale of jewellery, footwear, electronics and apparel.
“The recently concluded Holi sale event was a significant milestone for us. Our efforts to ensure consumers have access to quality products at the lowest prices is helping us cater to growing demand from Bharat consumers,” said Utkrishta Kumar, CXO, Business at Meesho, “Recording 14 million orders in just 3 days, with 80 per cent of this demand coming from tier-2+ cities underscores our efforts to democratize e-commerce for everyone. With over 77 million unique product listings, we will continue to expand our product portfolio to make Meesho a single-shopping destination for the next billion consumers in the country.”
With seller-friendly initiatives like 0 per cent commission, zero penalty and 7-day payment cycle, sellers are able to earn better profit margins and grow their business with Meesho. During the recently concluded Holi sale, sellers witnessed about 230 per cent increase in orders.
“The highlight of the sale was that the order flow was the same on all 3 days. This was even better than the Diwali sale,” said Varun, a Meesho seller from Delhi.
“We saw a 5x jump in sales. The Maha Indian Savings Sale was my best sale so far,” said Priyank Adesara, another Meesho seller from Rajkot.
Meesho provides access to over 77 million unique products from a plethora of categories. Customers have the convenience of shopping for a wide assortment of products at the lowest prices from the comfort of their homes. In 2021, over 71 per cent of all new Meesho users came from India’s Tier 3+ markets.
While consumers are busy collecting the essentials for Holi, Fipkart’s social commerce platform Shopsy has witnessed some extraordinary shopping trends on the platform as it gears up to celebrate its first Holi with customers.
“Right from Holi pichkaris and organic colors, customers are now moving from the traditional ways of celebration and making their buys more value-focused,” said a Flipkart spokesperson on Thursday. “On the platform, while the Holi essentials category witnessed 60 per cent traction from Tier 3+ cities, the east and north zones contributed to the majority of buyers.”
The top cities which spotted highest demand were Patna, Lucknow, Guwahati, Varanasi, Allahabad, Jaipur, Ranchi, Cuttack, Bhubaneshwar, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Medinipur, Bankura and Nagpur.
Colours being the most important element of this festival, Shopsy witnessed a whopping 5X growth in its demand while water guns (pichkaris) observed close to 4X growth in orders. Additionally, the apparel category recorded a 2X jump as customers ordered several attractive traditional attires ahead of the festival. Some of the other categories that registered significant demand include Holi decoration items with 25X growth, Holi crackers at 21X, and non-alcoholic beverages at 17X, among many others.
“While Shopsy’s affordable and wide selection of Holi products lured many customers, the female and students’ community accounted for the maximum purchases,” said a Flipkart spokesperson. “Additionally, a diverse variety of packaged food items such as flour sooji, ghee, sugar, savouries and others recorded notable demand across Tier 3+ cities.”
While this is just the first year for Shopsy, the social commerce market has seen a huge growth potential addressing the need for trust and simplicity on online channels. “This also helps Shopsy further its commitment of offering affordable, convenient, and value-driven products to customers in all parts of the country while enabling entrepreneurship for millions of Indians,” said the Flipkart spokesperson.
E-commerce giant Amazon has also specially curated ‘Holi Shopping Store’. The store has been designed as a one-stop destination to fulfil all Holi shopping needs of customers ranging from herbal colours and pichkaris, fashion and beauty essentials, safety items, pooja essentials, waterproof gadgets and accessories.
Amazon said customers can look forward to saving on big brands such as Xiaomi, OnePlus, Maybelline, Sugar Cosmetics, Kindle, GoPro, Samsung and Sony, Bata, Mother Dairy and Prestige. Latest devices from Amazon such as Kindle 10th gen, smart speaker with Alexa and Fire TV Stick are also available at exciting prices.
Amazon is displaying unique products such as Indian Karigar Holi Gulal.To ensure an acne -free Holi, these 100 per cent organic, natural Holi colours (Gulal), prepared from natural ingredients such as maize starch. The other products include ‘FunBlast Elephant Holi Water Gun Toy’ for Kids and non-toxic Holi water balloons. Specialized water-resistant technology bluetooth speakers are also being sold.
Social commerce firm DealShare, which is known for pioneering the community group buying (CGB) model in India said that the Holi sales have been 10x of what it was last year.
“There is 92 per cent increase in sales as compared to last year's Holi,” said Sourjyendu Medda, founder and chief business officer, DealShare. Medda said the firm is witnessing huge demand across categories such as general merchandise, snacks, drinks, beverages, and grocery, especially from locations such as NCR, WestBengal, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Hyderabad. “Our private label line of grocery is doing really good and has created a huge difference in the market as the prices are really good,” said Medda.
Another major e-commerce firm Snapdeal said that it is hosting a Holi special store "Aa Re Holi", with up to 85 per cent discount on a variety of products such as natural holi colours, sweets, t-shirts, pichkaris and water guns, and waterproof footwear and make-up items.
Infographic:
1.4 crore orders during Holi sale on Meesho.
60% traction for Holi essentials category from Tier 3+ cities on Flipkart’s Shopsy platform.
Unique products on Amazon like Indian Karigar Holi Gulal, water gun toys and non-toxic Holi water balloons.
92%increase in sales as compared to last year's Holi on DealShare.
85% discount on variety of products on Snapdeal’s Holi special store
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