Buoyant response to Amazon, Flipkart's festive season sales beats slowdown blues

If e-commerce majors Amazon and Flipkart are to be believed, the first day of festive season sales beat bearish consumer sentiment that offline retailers have been experiencing. According to Amazon, first 36 hours of Amazon Great Indian Festival saw a record single-day Prime membership sign-ups with 66 per cent of shopping by Prime members coming in from Tier-II and Tier-III towns. The e-commerce giant also said that nearly 91 per cent of  new customers hailed from Tier-II and Tier-III 3 towns.

"With record Prime sign-ups, more first-time shoppers from small towns than ever before and tens of thousands of small sellers across India already seeing success, we are excited by how India loves Amazon's commitment to offer largest selection, great convenience and exceptional value to its customers," said Amit Agarwal, Global Senior Vice President and Country Head, Amazon India. In the mobile phones category, brands such as OnePlus, Samsung and Apple alone clocked over Rs 750 crore in the first 36 hours, claimes Amazon.

Interestingly, the white goods space, especially large appliances and televisions from brands such as Whirlpool, Samsung, IFB and LG, saw a record sale over the first two days, 10 times more than average sales recorded on other business days.

Amazon also said that it witnessed a 100 per cent increase in people opting for EMIs with over 75 per cent coming from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Every 3 out of 4 customers availed No Cost EMI offers. The number of customers availing credit increased by two times compared to the festive season last year.

Walmart-owned Flipkart also said that it registered a jump of two times in its sales growth on the first day of The Big Billion Day 2019 (TBBD) compared to last year. Flipkart too saw all major categories including beauty, women's ethnic wear, kidswear, sports, FMCG, baby care, private labels and furniture surpassing the total business done on the first day of last year's TBBD. Flipkart Plus customers transacted three times more than last year. The number of customers transacting from Tier-II and beyond doubled compared to last year with customers opting for affordability options spending  2.5 times more than other customers.

Flipkart also claimed 10 million new app downloads in less than a month in the run-up to TBBD 2019 indicating increased customer base compared to last year. "There is no doubt that e-commerce has not only lifted consumer sentiment but also has driven the industry to set new benchmarks. Affordability and value-driven themes clearly are the pulsating chords for India and Bharat. We are in the centre of it all and are able to serve the ecosystem for their unique needs," said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart.

In a report ahead of the festive sale of e-commerce companies, research firm RedSeer Consulting had estimated the overall gross sales this year to touch $3.7 billion during the festive season sale, an increase of 60-65 per cent year-on-year. The report said, "Given the wider trend of mobiles sales growth slowing down and mobiles accounting for lesser share of GMV in 2019 than earlier years, RedSeer's consumer sentiment analysis also shows that consumer electronics and fashion are preferred categories amongst consumers this year."