The online sales in India this festival season has been better than industry estimates at $8.3 billion (close to Rs 61,250 crore) between October 15 and November 15 — a 65% year-on-year growth.
According to the market research firm RedSeer consulting, Flipkart, including other platforms in it, was the leader during the whole festive month with 66% share of the total sale.
The Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) clocked by e-commerce firms last year was $5 billion during the festive month. Last year, close to 47 million shoppers bought from e-commerce during the festive season.
Mrigank Gutgutia, director at RedSeer said: “We had forecast $7 billion in sales but the actual figures surpassed our expectations clearly, showing how comfortable consumers have become with shopping online even in a pandemic-hit year.”
Tier 2 and 3 towns drive growth
As has been the emerging trends recently, this year’s festive sale was driven by Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. The research firm said 88 million shoppers purchased goods on e-commerce this festive season, with 55% coming from Tier 2 towns, and 45% from metros and Tier 1 cities.
There was 88% customer growth from last year, as close to 40 million shoppers coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns bought on e-commerce platforms.
“One clear lesson from this festive season is that e-commerce has become more mainstream than ever. It is imperative for brands and sellers to shift their focus to online quickly and enable a seamless online experience for the customer in order to thrive in a post COVID world,” Mrigank Gutgutia added.
Smartphones dominated the list of products sold, with an increasing share of users from Tier 2 cities. With Covid-19 forcing individuals to work-from-home, electronics and large appliances saw a jump, clocking 29% of the overall GMV.
Smartphones worth Rs 1.5 crore were sold every minute across online platforms in the first week of festive sales.
With people mostly confined to their homes, fashion did not do all that well. GMV per customer also dropped to Rs 6,600 from Rs 7,450 last festive season.
Flipkart and Amazon story
Flipkart and Amazon shared 88% of the total sale this festival season.
As per RedSeer’s report, Flipkart was the leader in the festive season, with 66% share of the total sale.
Flipkart saw at least 40% growth in its flagship Big Billion Days (BBD), compared to the same event last year.
Flipkart’s early access sale started on October 15, while Amazon’s sale started on 16. Amazon sale ended on November 13, while it ran till November 15 for Flipkart.
