Flipkart trumped Amazon in the 1st festive sale: Redseer

Flipkart's flagship Big Billion Day sales which lasted from October 16 to 21 and the ongoing Great Indian Festive sale by Amazon have led the first week of online festive season sale, making up for 90 per cent of the total sales of an estimated $4.1 billion. According to a report by consulting firm Redseer, the total sales grew by 55 per cent year-on-year to $4.1 billion in 2020, from $2.7 billion last year. Again Mobile phones led the category sales and with affordability playing big on consumers mind as buyers preferred affordable price ranges this year for almost all product categories. Platforms enabled affordability this year with aggressive tie-ups through brands and financing deals, coming on the back of a bleak, pandemic-affected year, said the report. As anticipated tier 2 and beyond also chipped in with higher consumption resulting in increased sales. "E-commerce sector has exceeded the aggressive forecasts we had made a few weeks before the start of the festive season week," said Mrigank Gutgutia, Director at Redseer Consulting.

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The increase in this year's sale for both big e-commerce companies was also largely due to the high pre-sale awareness, a wider selection across the categories including at multiple price points, a  tight supply chain planning enabled  and affordability  being an important factor that helped increase the share of  participation by  Tier 2+ shoppers.

"This points to a revival of consumption sentiment amongst Indian shoppers, where they have been shopping online in big numbers driven by massive selection, great prices and the convenience and safety of shopping from home," added Mrigank.

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According to the report, with a high share of Tier 2+ shoppers  this year, Flipkart group emerged as an overall leader during the first week of festive sales accounting for nearly 68 per cent of the total sales.