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Flipkart outperformed Amazon in the Diwali shopping season this year in India in terms of user engagement and first-time app installs, according to a report by data analytics firm Apptopia.
The e-commerce operators conducted their Diwali sales around the same days this month.
Flipkart's Big Billion Days Sale attracted more new users than Amazon's sale. The Walmart-owned company's userbase grew by nearly 71%, to almost 3.5 million users, compared to same season last year. Amazon's Great Indian Festival Sale userbase grew 77%, to nearly 2.5 million users, compared to the same season last year.
First-time downloads grew more this year than any year previously. This is likely due to people staying home out of precaution during the pandemic, the report noted.
Most of India's commerce is still done in-person, but the pandemic has accelerated the country's transition to online. While Amazon grew downloads more year-over-year, Flipkart still came out on top in terms of absolute numbers.
User sessions on Flipkart's mobile app rose 87% this year compared with last year, while it grew about 37% on Amazon's mobile app. Flipkart dominated in both percentage growth and absolute figures. User sessions is a metric that helps understand engagement and account for people who already have the app installed on their mobile device.
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Flipkart's early start in India over Amazon may be the reason for its lead in mobile app performance, the report said.
Myntra, another Walmart-owned entity, brought 1.8 million downloads in the same period used for studying Flipkart and Amazon. Installs grew about 374% compared with last year, the report noted.
