E-commerce platforms in the country clocked sales worth $3.5 billion for the first four days (September 22 to 25) of festive sales, contributing to 60% of the projected GMV (gross merchandise value) of 5.9 billion for the whole first wave of festive sales, according to Redseer Strategy Consultants.
The first wave of festive sales comprises Flipkart’s Big Billion Days, Amazon’s Great Indian Festival, Meesho’s Mega Blockbuster Sale, besides sales on other platforms such as Myntra, Ajio, and Nykaa. About 55 million people made purchases during these days starting September 23. About 1,100 mobile phones were sold each minute, with ₹11,000 crore worth of these gadgets sold on large e-commerce platforms alone. Premium phones including iPhone 12, 13, and OnePlus, drove mobile sales, according to Redseer.
Fashion, including no brands, witnessed a 4.5x jump in terms of daily average GMV from BAU (business as usual) days, to reach ₹5,500 crore in the first 4 days, it said. According to Redseer’s report, the first 4 days of the festive period saw an overall Daily Average GMV rise to 5.4x while the corresponding period last year saw a 1.3x rise. “Redseer had earlier projected a GMV of $5.9 billion for the first wave of festive sales and as expected, we are on track to achieve this figure. Some 60% of our forecast is already achieved in the first 4 days of the sale,” said Sanjay Kothari, associate partner, Redseer Strategy Consultants.
In terms of units, 60-70 lakh mobiles were sold in the first 4 days. “We are expecting a total sale of 90 lakh to 1 crore units of mobiles for the whole festive week. We are also seeing premium phones driving mobile growth this year,” Mr. Kothari added.
E-commerce marketplaces usually hold up to 3 sales leading to the festival of Diwali. The first of these sales is usually the largest and usually accounts for more than 50% of the sales during the festive period.
