The ongoing festive sales on Amazon and Flipkart have bucked the trend of sluggish sales and a tentative market sentiment. The economic slowdown which has hit various sectors of the Indian economy over the past few quarters seemed nowhere to be found with the Amazon Great Indian Festival Sale and the Flipkart Big Billion Days Sale rolling out great offers and consumers lapping them up. Amazon and Flipkart are both suggesting that they have clocked record sales in the first couple of days of the sales going Live, and a significant increase in traction across categories compared with the sales at the same time last year.
According to numbers shared by Amazon, they sold over Rs 750 crores worth of premium smartphones in the first 36 hours of the sale. The Amazon Great Indian Festival Sale went Live on Saturday noon for the Prime subscribers and was available for everyone 12 hours later. A large chunk of the premium smartphone sales includes phones from OnePlus, Samsung and Apple. Phones weren’t the only thing that consumers were lapping up though. They say that large appliances and TVs also showed significant growth, close to almost ten times the average sales otherwise, during the first few sale days. Fashion and apparel sales went up by 4.6 times while groceries saw a 3.5 times increase. For Flipkart, one of the strongest categories was travel, which saw a 12 times growth compared with last year.
“We are humbled that first 36 hours of our Great Indian Festival has seen record participation from digital Bharat. With record Prime signups, more first-time shoppers from small towns than ever before and tens of thousands of small sellers across India already seeing success, we are excited by how India loves Amazon’s commitment to offering the largest selection, great convenience and exceptional value to its customers," says Amit Agarwal, Global Senior Vice President and Country Head, Amazon India.
Flipkart says that the sales on day one of the Big Billion Days Sale this year was two times more than day 1 in the Big Billion Days Sale last year. “We started this festive season by setting audacious targets for ourselves and our teams. By all indications, this is going to be the biggest festive season that India has witnessed. There is no doubt that e-commerce has not only lifted consumer sentiment but has also driven the industry to set new benchmarks. Affordability and value-driven themes clearly are the pulsating chords for India and Bharat. We are in the centre of it all, and are able to serve the ecosystem for their unique needs, says Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group in a statement shared with the media
But where are these customers coming from? Amazon says that as many as 91% of new customers are from Tier 2, Tier 3 and even smaller towns. For the day that was exclusive to Prime subscribers, Amazon saw the largest ever number of Prime subscription sign-ups in a single day, and 66% of these shoppers came from Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. The Prime subscription is priced at Rs 999 per year. Flipkart’s numbers also suggest a similar trend. Flipkart saw shoppers from Tier 2, Tier 3 and smaller towns double this year.
And how are these customers paying for their purchases? While there was a 100% increase in customers preferring to go down the EMI route to pay for their purchases, 75% of those were from Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. Amazon says, “Number of customers availing credit increased by 2X over the festive period last year."
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