Flipkart vs Amazon: The battle is on from October 13-17

Amazon India has announced a 'Great Indian Festive Sale' to take on its rival Flipkart's 'Big Billion Day Sale', which will take place from 13-17 October.

However, unlike the Flipkart sale, Amazon's is not an app-only event but will be available on desktops as well as mobile sites. App users will have an advantage, though, as the e-tailer will announce app-only deals on October 16-17.

Amazon is also offering HDFC cash back during its sale - a 15 per cent discount on app-based purchases, and 10 per cent for shopping from its website.

The move by Amazon was expected after Flipkart announced its plan on Monday. The coming days could see more such announcements from other biggies of the e-commerce segment.

Amazon and Flipkart are joined in India's $13-billion e-commerce sector by marketplace Snapdeal, fashion e-tailer Jabong, and US auctioneer eBay Inc.

Though Snapdeal so far has steered clear of challenge put forth by Flipkart, it has planned a different festive strategy.

"We will bring together a set of mega deals for consumers every Monday across different categories. We will also have great offers running through the month until Diwali across a wide range of categories," said Rahul Taneja, Vice President - Category Management, Snapdeal.

"We were the first ones to kick-off the festive season with the Preview Monday Sale on 28  September and it saw a phenomenal response from our customers, registering 6x the orders as compared to its usual business days and 10x growth in sales," he added.

Meanwhile, Flipkart, too, has big plans for its upcoming sale.

"The second edition of Big Billion Days sale will be a five-day long app-only shopping event for customers to avail exciting offers and unbeatable discounts across 70+ product categories," Ankit Nagori, Chief Business Officer of Flipkart, told Business Today.

He said that Flipkart will put on the block a wide range of selection during its sale - apparel, footwear, mobiles, furniture, laptops, toys, large appliances, jewellery, watches or home furnishing items.

The company said that Myntra will also be a part of the sale and will be presenting a curated selection from iconic fashion brands at never-before offers.

Last year festive season had seen a great battle between the two top e-tailers of the country, with Flipkart's 'Big Billion Day' clashing with Snapdeal's 'Big Sale Day'. Both e-tailers had claimed last year that they had  sold products worth an estimated Rs 600 crore each during these sales.