SUMMARY
Flipkart’s Big Savings Day sale ran from August 6-10, 2020
Flipkart competitor Amazon recorded a GMV of over INR 3,700 Cr during its two-day Prime Day sale
The Indian ecommerce sector is seeing demand increase, led chiefly by electronics, smartphones and small and large appliances
Ecommerce giant Flipkart is estimated to have posted INR 2,600-2,700 Cr in gross merchandise value (GMV) during its five-day Big Savings Day sale, from August 6-10, 2020, sources in the know of things told Economic Times.
GMV is the total value of merchandise sold over a period of time, excluding discounts and returns.
Flipkart’s Big Savings Day sale happened in the same period as Amazon’s Prime Day sale. However, the latter’s was two days long, from August 6-7. According to market research company Forrester Research, Amazon is said to have posted a GMV of around INR 3,700 Cr during its Prime Day sale.
In a blog post, Amazon claimed that its Prime Day sale had proved to be the biggest-ever for small and medium businesses (SMBs) on the platform. The company claimed that of the 91,000 small sellers on the platform, 31,000 witnessed their highest sales ever, while more than 4000 SMB sellers registered sales of INR 10 lakhs or more, and 209 SMB sellers becoming crorepatis during the 48 hours.
Both ecommerce platforms are said to have witnessed a strong demand, led by electronics, smartphones, and small and large appliances.
Indian Ecommerce Recovers Post Lockdown
Back in May, when lockdown restrictions across parts of India were first eased, and ecommerce deliveries for non-essential items were permitted, many companies saw what they felt was pent-up demand. However, three months on and the market is still going strong.
As of June, the Indian ecommerce sector had recovered 90% of its pre-lockdown volume according to SaaS e-commerce platform Unicommerce. While electronic products had mainly led the recovery, the fashion sector had also recovered 70% of its pre-lockdown amount of sales.
Forrester Research has noted that the Indian ecommerce segment is expected to grow by 6%, amounting to $35.5 Bn this year.
Flipkart Hikes Commissions From Sellers
Meanwhile, an Inc42 report from June highlighted that Flipkart was planning to hike the commissions it charged from sellers, as the company witnessed increased demand for non-essentials in the post-lockdown period. With the hike in commissions across product categories, it was reported that the sellers might have to either raise prices of their products or incur losses, either way, benefiting Flipkart in terms of its GMV or burn.
Reportedly, commissions for products would be increased in components such as local shipping charges.
A spokesperson for the All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) had said, “The price hikes by Flipkart need to be rolled back, and they should instead reduce their fees for sellers to survive while giving the best benefits to consumers. With the revised fees, the sellers will be forced to increase prices by 5-7%, depending on category and selling price.”
A Flipkart spokesperson had told Inc42 that it was working with lakhs of sellers so they could resume operations. “We regularly revise our commissions and shipping rate cards based on business metrics and this is a periodic exercise.”
