$4.6 Bn GMV! Online Festive Season Sales 2021 In 5 Graphs

The first week of online festive sales recorded a 23% growth in 2021 compared to the last year. Overall, goods worth $4.6 Bn were sold online by brands, according to consulting firm RedSeer Consulting.

In the first four days of the festive season, ecommerce platforms registered a gross merchandise value of $2.7 Bn, which was already more than the entire first week of last year’s festive season. Redseer had predicted sales of $4.8 Bn during the first week of the season. 

Compared to the festive sales in 2020 where ecommerce platforms had a GMV of $7.4 Bn, in 2021, the numbers are expected to grow by 23% to $9 Bn.

According to the firm, the online shopping base grew by 20% in comparison with last year, and Tier II cities contributed 61% of all online shoppers. Gross merchandise value per shopper also grew by 104%.

Nearly 40 Mn+ (61%) shoppers came from the Tier 2 and beyond cities. GMV per user also showed a jump — it went from INR 4,980 in 2020 to INR 5,034 in 2021, it added.

Category wise, mobiles, electronics and appliances remained strong this year driven by new launches, EMI options and smart upgrade plans from brands. Demand for some other categories like home décor and furniture have been subdued this year. 

Some of the key themes that drove festive sales include: 

1. Fashion making a comeback: After a poor showing during the last festive season owing to the pandemic and associated restrictions, customer demand for fashion was back this year.
2. Strong Mobile phone sales: Indians purchased INR 68 Cr worth of mobile phones every hour during festive sales across all platforms!

Based on the performance of Flipkart’s 7th edition of The Big Billion Days (BBD) Sale and Amazon India’s 4th edition of The Great Indian Festival (GIF) which began on 3rd October, Flipkart group emerged as the clear leader in sales this year capturing 64% of the market share, Redseer claimed.

Amazon came in at a distant second with 28%. All the other players in the industry had to settle for a share of the 8% left. 

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