E-tailers cross $1.8 bn in three days of festive sales

Mid-way through the six-day online shopping festive sales in India, ecommerce players like Amazon and Flipkart have crossed over $1.8 billion, or Rs 11,500 crore, in gross merchandise value (GMV). 

Mobile phone sales, like previous years, is the category leader with over 55% of GMV coming from the segment, according to a report by internet market researcher RedSeer. 

Strong growth has also been seen in electronics and fashion categories along with others like furniture, the report added.

“The first three days have been a strong success for etailers despite challenging macro environment, indicating that consumer sentiment on online shopping remains bullish,” said Anil Kumar, founder and chief executive, RedSeer Consulting.

Customers preferred fashion on Flipkart due to heavy discounts whereas Amazon’s popular segment was electronics owing to Prime’s lower prices and faster delivery. 

RedSeer did not post a break up on individual sales numbers of the two ecommerce platforms. A high share of customers came from smaller cities driven by the wide selection, offers and fast deliveries.

The festive season, from September to November, usually sees an increase in sales on online shopping platforms in the country. This year, both Amazon and Flipkart launched their annual flagship sale events at the same time.

Most ecommerce platforms have expanded their distribution networks and added services in local languages to boost sales in tier-II and III cities.

Last month, the Bengaluru-based ecommerce major Flipkart claimed it was trying to reach the new-to-credit audience across tier-2 cities with its latest payment programmes in a major ramp up of its fintech offerings ahead of its Big Billion Days. 

Ahead of its Great Indian Festival season, Amazon said it would hire short-term contract employees across Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune and other cities.

Redseer expects the industry to continue to do well in the remaining days of the sales and achieve 80-100% of the $3.7 billion sales target figure it had forecasted for the whole 6-day event.

The $3.7 billion translates to 60-65% year-on-year growth compared to $2.3 billion estimated by Redseer for 2018’s festive sales.