Ecommerce Cos Saw 15% YoY Growth This Festive Season: Delhivery

The gross merchandise value (GMV) for ecommerce companies working in India grew 15% year-on-year (YoY) this festive season, Delhivery cofounder and CEO Sahil Barua said during the company’s earnings call on Saturday (November 4).

According to him, shipment volumes by logistics companies are typically considered a good metric to judge growth in the ecommerce space. Barua said the growth was largely in line with earlier estimates where Redseer analysts said ecommerce GMV in India will grow 20% this year to touch INR 90,000 Cr. 

“The growth this year was more or less what we expected. There were questions about growth but it does appear that there is appetite from customers to spend online,” Barua added.

Barua’s comments also come after the listed logistics major had said the ecommerce industry will grow by 15-20% YoY. The Delhivery CEO added the GMV growth was around 15% YoY but volume growth was only in the 11-12% range.

That was likely as Delhivery saw fairly significant growth in the heavy consumer goods category, which includes large electronics, consumer durables, home furnishings, furniture and more. The listed logistics major also noted that early trends showed that customers were purchasing expensive items like TVs, refrigerators and other large items because they were available at a steeper discount.

Barua added that large ecommerce categories will be the key to driving GMV growth going forward. Further, the number of D2C brands coming up was also encouraging and they will be another large driver of ecommerce growth in the years to come, per the company.

“It’s not like an Amazon will get a discount but you charge an arm and a leg to everybody else. That’s not appropriate. Our structural pricing for a D2C player and another marketplace is not different,” Barua said. “However, the size and kind of products D2C companies ship result in better yields for us,” he added.

Ecommerce remains an important area for Delhivery, as the company claims to ship around 6.7 Mn parcels per day. The listed logistics major has partnered with both major ecommerce platforms such as Amazon to D2C brands to enable shipping across its network. Delhivery also partners with many third-party logistics providers such as Shiprocket to further offer its services.

Delhivery reported its financials for Q2 FY24 today, posting a net loss of INR 102.9 Cr, down 59.5% from INR 254.1 Cr reported in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.