Bangalore: India’s top two e-retailers saw a surge in new shoppers from smaller cities in the first two days of holiday sales, thanks to discounts, reverse migration of metro customers, and credit products.
Walmart-backed Flipkart and Amazon India have seen sales more than double in the first 48 hours compared to the 2019 holiday sale edition.
Flipkart’s Big Billion Days (BBD) sale began on October 16, while Amazon’s Great Indian Festive (GIF) sale began for Prime members on the same day and opened for everyone the next day.
For Amazon, 91% of its new customer base came from Tier 2 cities and above, while Flipkart witnessed nearly 65% of its new customer base from smaller towns and cities.
Amazon claimed that this was its best first 48-hour holiday sale in India, with over 1.1 lakh of sellers on its platform already receiving orders.
Smartphones, consumer electronics and large appliances continued to be the top-selling categories in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV) for Amazon, while fashion and consumables were large in volume.
“The first 48 hours have exceeded the expectations we set this year and participation on our platform is increasing. With orders coming from more than 98.4% PIN codes in just 48 hours, it will definitely make this year’s sale the largest in Amazon.in history, “said Manish Tiwary, Vice President of Amazon India, in a interview.
Categories like tablets are seeing a 300% increase in sales, premium smartphone launches have gained traction even in smaller cities, compared to previous GIF sales, Tiwary added.
Rival Flipkart witnessed a 40% increase in smartphone sales and a 50% increase in people taking advantage of product exchanges in 2019 BBD. Big-screen TVs, laptops and IT accessories saw a 1.4x increase over last year. ‘
Flipkart said that more than 3 lakh vendors are participating in the ongoing sale, of which 60% are from Tier 2 cities and above. The major e-commerce has expanded its vendor base reach by 20% to serve over 3,000 PIN codes this year. It has also seen 36 million new app downloads in the run-up to the holiday sale.
In just two days of BBD, Flipkart sellers witnessed the sales growth they saw in the first six days of their 2019 sale.
“Many subway customers have moved to Tier 2 origins and brought their online shopping habit with them. As people who lived in rental housing in metropolitan areas abandon their homes and live in their places of origin, their disposable income has increased due to lower spending. Much of this is funneled into online shopping. We see attractive offers, especially in the various affordability builds, which is driving further acceleration, “said Mrigank Gutgutia, Redseer’s director of e-commerce.
Amazon, through partners, has already paid out almost ₹Rs 600 crore of credit to its customers in the first 48 hours of its sale, while Flipkart saw a 65% increase in customers using EMI to buy mobile phones, laptops and household appliances. More than 25% of home appliances and electronics are purchased at EMI during the holiday sale, Flipkart said.
Flipkart-owned Myntra, in its ongoing holiday sale, has seen 100% growth in purchases over the past year, with over 2 million customers purchasing so far, over the two-day sale period. The fashion market has seen 50% of the demand coming from Tier 2 and 3 cities.
Level 2 and 3 users are engaging in Hindi and other South Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, and 70% of EMI requests are coming from this region for household appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators, Tiwary added. from Amazon.
More than 9 million visitors used the vernacular to take advantage of “new essentials” including mobiles, apparel and electronics during this sale, Flipkart said.
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