Amazon and Flipkart, leading e-commerce players, on Sunday said early trends during their festive sales – kicked off from October 3 – reflected upbeat consumer sentiment and the growth for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and sellers.
The e-commerce players are expected to clock sales worth $4.8 billion (Rs 33,600 crore) in the festive week. Amazon is part of US-based retail giant Amazon. Flipkart is partly owned by another US-based retail major Walmart.
Flipkart said it saw a 40 percent growth in early access for Flipkart Plus customers as compared to last year. Flipkart, the #2 commerce platform in India, kicked off 8th edition of The Big Billion Days (TBBD) festive sales.
More than 2 million customers pre-booked close to 5 million products just prior to early access by paying Re 1.
Nearly 45 percent of customer demand has been from tier 3 cities and beyond, signaling a strong preference for high-value goods / items, Flipkart said.
This year, TBBD has started off seeing upbeat participation by customers and sellers. “We will expand and strengthen our ecosystem of sellers and MSMEs, enabling better income and livelihoods for millions and expand our reach across the country,” said Nandita Sinha, Vice President, Customer and Growth, Flipkart.
One in five customers has chosen to exchange their smartphone for a new one, with 82.60 percent of customers choosing to pay for their next smartphone using prepaid payment options.
Apple 12 and Apple 12 Mini are currently the favourite smartphone models, accounting for most of the 2 lakh Apple iPhone 12 devices sold so far.
Flipkart has onboarded over one lakh kiranas to date for its last-mile delivery program.
Amazon India said that the Great Indian Festival 2021 received a strong start, with millions of customers buying from small sellers listed on Amazon.in, including local shops, start-ups and brands, artisans, weavers, and SMBs.
“During Prime Early Access on Oct 2, the number of local shops participating in the event more than doubled compared to last year. We saw a 60 percent increase in sellers who received their highest ever single day sales year-on-year on amazon.in,” Manish Tiwary, Vice President, Amazon India, said.
The number of sellers receiving an order from Tier 2 and 3 cities jumped by 21 percent and 16 percent more sellers received orders over last year.
Amazon India said Prime subscription continues to be a customer favourite across India, with two out of three new Prime sign-ups coming from Tier 2/3 cities and customers shopping in 8 Indian languages.
Indians are expected to buy goods worth a whopping $9 billion (Rs 64,000 crore) across online platforms in the festive season (October-December) this year, according to latest data from Bengaluru-based market research firm RedSeer.
