Festive season sales in the Indian e-commerce marketplaces geared up on 2nd October and have already touched new heights within a fortnight with categories like smartphones, appliances, apparel and daily needs, among others, thriving more than the previous year.
“Reach, coupled with behavioural changes accelerated by Covid-19, is driving adoption. For instance, online AC sales this month have doubled over last year, led by premium models,” said Manish Sharma (Panasonic India Chairman).
Smartphones take a major chunk on the sales pie chart for this year. Here are the estimated growth in sales for this year (in %):
The sales of smartphones surged to around 60% from an estimated 55%, early estimates by market tracker Counterpoint Research showed. Television sales multiplied to 40% from 31% and appliances (like refrigerators, ACs, washing machines etc.) rose to 9-10% from 6-8%, industry executives said.
RedSeer Consulting, a market research firm, said that the overall shopper base had grown around 20% since the last year with tier II markets contributing almost 60% of shoppers. The reach to tier III markets is also flourishing as several customers have bought expensive products online. Such rapid increase in customer base has been a ramification of the discounts offered in e-commerce marketplaces along with the behavioural changes accelerated by the pandemic.
This festive season, most e-commerce marketplaces have paid attention to all categories equally, including groceries, instead of the typical focus on electronics and apparel, said Krishnarao Buddha, senior category head at Parle Products.
For the consumer goods sellers, their overall sales mix shows an increased sector of online sales from 3-5% to 6-10% since March 2020, as majority consumers turned to online shopping for essentials as well as non-essentials during the pandemic.
Colossal e-commerce market players Amazon and Flipkart launched Great Indian Shopping Festival and Big Billion Days, respectively, on 2nd October with a longer running time and higher discounts since the previous year. Alongside, Flipkart owned Myntra, Tata Cliq, Reliance Digital and Croma ran their online sales too, leading to a huge surge in online shopping.
