E-commerce major Amazon and its arch rival, Walmart-owned Flipkart, have independently claimed that their sales for this season — Great India Festival and The Big Billion Days, respectively — were the highest-ever in India’s e-commerce history.
Flipkart on Friday said it had clocked 70 billion views in six days of The Big Billion Days (TBBDs). It also said there was almost 50% growth in the number of new customers, as compared to last year. Also, more than 50% of Flipkart Plus shoppers were from tier 2 cities while units from tier 3 cities grew by 100% over last year, it said.
Interestingly, September 30, 2019, was the single largest day for e-commerce in the country. This year’s festive seasons sales begun with a big bang with both e-tailers claiming record sales and overwhelming responses.
Amazon, too, on Friday said that in its Great Indian Festival celebration, sellers witnessed record sales across popular categories in Wave 1 of the fest that ran between September 29 and October 4, preceded by a 12-hour Prime Early Access. OnePlus reported 80% growth over last year, with sales crossing ₹700 crore.
As per research agency Nielsen, Amazon.in witnessed the highest share of transacting customers and purchases across all online shopping platforms in the first five days of the Great Indian Festival 2019.
As per data from Amazon India, customers from 99.4% of India’s postal codes placed an order during the Great Indian Festival. Some 62% of customers who placed orders for appliances had them delivered and installed within 36 hours. On the busiest day, there were more than 600 flights delivering packages to its customers, said Amazon.
Big sales in a slowdown?
“There is also postponing of discretionary (or not-urgent) buying and hence it is not a surprise that the big online/e-commerce sales are still where bargain seekers are active. It is very difficult with these trends to gauge whether there is a slowdown or not. We need to look at other economic and consumption markers which are more long term,” commented Pawan Kumar S, partner and leader — Technology, Media and Telecom sector and Technology Consulting at PwC India.
Phones rule the roost
Smart phones seem to have led the sales, in terms of value and volumes, followed by discounted products such as laptops, home appliances, electronic items including TVs, fashion accessories, beauty products, travel and even groceries.
This has been the biggest festive season for mobiles till date, with brands achieving more than twofold growth over last year. More than 20 models sold over 100,000 units each this year, which was a first for any event, said Flipkart.
Amazon reported a 15-fold sales growth among brands such as Samsung, OnePlus, Apple, Xiaomi and Vivo. New
