One in three smartphones being sold via e-commerce sites like Flipkart and Snapdeal, says study

One in three smartphones sold during the third quarter of 2015 was via online channels such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and other e-tailers, says a recent study by research firm Counterpoint.

According to Counterpoint's Market Monitor service, overall smartphone sales in the country during the quarter rose as much as 20 per cent year-on-year, driven by the surge in demand because of the festival season.

"Most of the growth during the quarter was driven by OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) stocking the channels ahead of the upcoming festive season. Towards the end of the quarter, we saw most brands actively rolling out their flagship products coupled with aggressive marketing and promotional campaigns both online and offline," said Tina Lu, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research.

The festive season always sees a huge leap in demand for all consumer products, including phones and gadgets.

To cash in on this demand, last month all major e-tailers in the country had announced a host of festive sale offers and huge discounts for various many product categories including handsets.

Flipkart, India's largest online marketplace, claims to have sold as many as half a million mobile handsets within 10 hours of its 'Big Billion Days' sale.

Another interesting finding of this study says that one in four mobile phones sold during the quarter was 'Made in India'.

The Counterpoint Research study ranks Samsung as the market leader and says that it led the mobile phone and smartphone segment sales during the quarter, with market shares of 19 per cent and 23.2 per cent, respectively.

Micromax has been ranked second by the study, with a market share of 13.7 per cent for mobile phones and 17.7 per cent for smartphones.