Day 1 of relaxed blocking: Amazon, Snapdeal receives ‘thousands’ of orders; these products top the list

Importantly, delivery of ordered products on Monday could take up to 14 days, depending on the product.

40 days of cumulative demand for non-essential products launched on Monday brought back some e-commerce actions on the first day of the relaxed blocking guidelines. Following the directive of the Interior Ministry that allowed e-commerce companies, including Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart and others, to resume services of non-essential products in the green and orange areas, the markets reported that thousands of sellers received orders for such products. Most of the orders received belonged to the categories of clothing, electronics, home and home products.

“Baby clothes and appliances have witnessed maximum recovery on Amazon. Volume is close to the days before Covid, which also included red zones, while sellers are forced to increase faster than expected, “a source aware of first-day volume activity in Financial told Online Amazon.

Amazon, which has more than 5.5 lakh sellers, most of which are small businesses, recently announced a Partner Support Fund to offer a one-time outlay to small and medium package delivery companies and transportation partners. ” select “from Covid. “Thousands of sellers began receiving orders for the first time since closing began in March. We are hopeful that this will help boost the lives of many small vendors and their workforce. We urge the government to also allow an expanded list of priority products in the red zone, “an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.

Also read: Uber restructures the food delivery business: after India, Uber Eats closes in eight markets

Snapdeal, a rural and semi-urban focused e-commerce market for value-conscious shoppers, also reported that “thousands of our sellers received orders” on Monday. The company expected “80-90 percent of our vendors in the orange and green zones to activate over the course of this week,” said a Snapdeal spokesperson. More than 40 percent of their orders under relaxed guidelines came from the orange zone, while 35 percent came from the green zone.

“The volume has grown several times since yesterday (Sunday) for Snapdeal but is still not close to the pre-Covid level. Order volumes are expected to grow steadily as more sellers go live in the company’s market and more areas become useful, “someone close to the company told Financial Express Online.

The main categories that attracted orders at Snapdeal were household, including kitchen appliances like blenders, glasses, pressure cookers, cutlery, water bottles, etc., the spokesperson added. Clothing was another category that included summer clothing such as T-shirts, shorts, skirts, blouses, etc. and casual clothing like cotton shorts, pajama sets and top etc. that were on the shopping lists. Orders for electronic accessories such as charges for cell phones, headsets, data cables, and extension cords were also received.

“This is probably an expression of the demand accumulated during the blockade. While the basics were made available, albeit in short supply, many purchases based on need and aspiration were discontinued. These segments are expected to become overweight only after the recovery, and their share of the overall basket will likely stabilize over time, ”Utkarsh Sinha, Managing Director of the consulting firm Bexley, told Financial Express Online.

Importantly, delivery of ordered products on Monday could take up to 14 days, depending on the product.

Also read: CAIT brings the e-commerce fight to Amazon, Flipkart; announces portal for kiranas with these benefits

While the main categories for Flipkart could not be determined and the company also declined to comment at the time of presenting this report, Anil Goteti, senior vice president of Flipkart later in a statement, said there is an “increase in product searches. in categories like laptops, consumer electronics (like headsets), cell phones, air conditioners, refrigerators, T-shirts, and other essentials. “

Following Covid’s current situation, there will surely be a persistent change in consumer behavior and a net addition to online retail volumes. This is likely because consumers, who until now were only disconnected, have now experienced buying and paying for goods (in particular, household items) online. “This behavior is easily extensible to other categories and to other platforms. Those who were holdouts and tried BigBasket for the first time now will probably be more open to trying Amazon or Flipkart as well, ”added Sinha.

This story was later updated with Flipkart’s comment.