Ecommerce Platforms Clock INR 47K Cr GMV In First Week Of Festive Season Sale

SUMMARY

Items with high average selling prices such as mobiles, electronics, and large appliances emerged as the largest contributors to sales during the first week

According to Redseer, the Flipkart Group led the 2023 festive season sales to reach about 63% in GMV

In terms of volume of sales, Meesho retained its second position to reach about 25% of the total orders, up from around 21% in 2022

Ecommerce platforms clocked a gross merchandise value (GMV) of about INR 47,000 Cr, growing 19% year-on-year (YoY), in the first week of the 2023 festive season sale, which concluded on October 15, according to consulting firm Redseer.

Items with high average selling prices (ASP) such as mobiles, electronics, and large appliances emerged as the largest contributors to sales during the first week. Together these items drove almost 67% of the GMV in the first week’s sale period.

Eight out of the nine days of the sale period this year were in the ‘shradh’ period, compared to four out of the nine days in 2022, which led consumers to over-index purchases towards “essential upgrades” in this festive season, and to prioritise buying/upgrading high ASP categories

“The last day of the week saw a 36% YoY increase,” Redseer said.

Abhishek Tandon, engagement manager at Redseer said that two themes emerged in the first week – buyers holding on to spending on buying premium products at the right prices, and they were spending on value-for-money products.

According to Redseer’s latest estimates, the Flipkart Group, comprising shopping platforms of Flipkart, Myntra, and Shopsy, continued to lead the 2023 festive season sales to reach about 63% in GMV. Amazon followed next with “a substantial market share”.

Myntra recorded approximately 460 Mn customer visits during this year’s festive sales, the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, in terms of volume of sales, Meesho retained its second position to reach about 25% of the total orders, up from around 21% in 2022.

It is pertinent to note that the ecommerce platforms witnessed a substantial GMV of INR 29,000 Cr during the initial four days of the festive season sales this year.

“Bolstered by easy financing and a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) created by the ‘pre-book/price-lock’ feature being offered by platforms for the first time, premiumisation as a theme was seen to be playing out in these high ASP categories,” Redseer said.

The research firm had projected the GMV of the country’s ecommerce sector to grow 18-20% to INR 90,000 Cr during the festive season this year from INR 76,000 Cr last year.