India’s most popular festival, Diwali, provides an opportunity for the largest e-commerce retailers Walmart, owned by Flipkart and Amazon, who host their biggest shopping events – Big Billion Days and Great Indian Festival, respectively.
The Diwali season allows these e-commerce giants to make massive sales by attracting consumers by offering deep discounts on their products. However, with the coronavirus pandemic ongoing this year, the e-commerce industry faced problems during the shutdown. But retailers worked on it for the upcoming sales season and improved their supply chains.
Last year, Amazon India and Flipkart announced the creation of temporary jobs of 1.4 lakh and in May of this year, Amazon India had created nearly 70,000 seasonal opportunities in its operational network and customer service centers, it reported. PTI.
Sit with your family 👨👨👧👦 and fulfill all the wish lists 📝 kyunki #TheBigBillionDays is now LIVE! 🕺
– Flipkart (@Flipkart) October 17, 2020
“This, coupled with today’s announcement, is another step forward in Amazon India’s commitment to create one million new job opportunities in India by 2025 through continued investment in technology, infrastructure and its logistics network,” he said.
Amazon India also announced the creation of 10 new warehouses to expand 7 existing centers across the country this year. The company now has more than 32 million cubic feet of storage capacity and supports more than 6.5 lakh vendors in all regions. PTI.
the PTI The report, citing a report from RedSeer, estimated that various e-commerce and logistics companies are expected to create around three lakh jobs during the holiday season this year.
According to another RedSeer report, this year’s holiday sale, he estimated, would double this year touching $ 7 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) compared to $ 3.8 billion in the same period last year.
One reason that could be behind the increase in sales is that some people are still afraid to leave their homes due to the risk of infection and prefer the online shopping mode.
Manoj Gairola, a New Delhi-based telecom sector analyst who spoke to Nikkei Asia, said: “People have lost jobs as companies suffered due to COVID-19, and the growth of the country witnessed a historic decline. ”
India’s GDP fell sharply in the April-June quarter, a 23.9% year-on-year contraction. “In the past, consumers spent enthusiastically during the holiday season as the working class used to receive the Diwali bonus from their employers, which is not the case this time,” Gairola said.
According to Forrester Research, an American market research company, Flipkart had a 31.9% market share, making it the largest online retailer in India. On the other hand, Amazon India is not far behind with a market share of 31.2%.
“Flipkart and Amazon are shoulder to shoulder in the e-commerce wars, in terms of their product offerings, their initiatives to bolster affordability and increase consumer confidence, and most importantly, their last-mile delivery initiatives,” Prabhu Ram said. Head of the Industry Intelligence Group at research firm CMR, speaking with CNN.
While Flipkart may have a larger market share, Amazon enjoys the most desired internet brand in the country. according to a Fiduciary Research Advisor (TRA).
Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at market research firm Forrester, told CNN that a “clear winner” has yet to emerge, adding that Flipkart has “an advantage in terms of the amount of money that customers spend.” . That’s because Flipkart dominates online fashion sales and the company has strong ties with smartphone brands to offer deep discounts. “
