Flipkart’s Festive Season Sale To Go Live From October 16

SUMMARY

The sale will focus on creating opportunities for MSME and sellers, who lost business during the lockdown

Last year, Flipkart and Amazon recorded a combined GMV of $3 Bn during the festive season sale

A Redseer report expects ecommerce sales to hit $4 Bn during this years festive season sale

Walmart-owned ecommerce giant Flipkart, on Saturday (October 3), announced that it will host its festive season sale Big Billion Days from October 16 onwards and will last upto six days. The sale will focus on creating opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and sellers, who had been impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year, the festive season sale has altogether a different meaning for ecommerce companies across domains. The companies, including Amazon and Flipkart, are looking to make up for the lost sales during the pandemic.

Last year, Flipkart and Amazon recorded a combined gross merchandise value of $3 Bn or INR 19K Cr in India during their respective festive season sales, despite the economic slowdown. Both these platforms made up for almost 90% of the overall ecommerce sales during the gifting season, but Flipkart had overtaken Amazon by a huge margin.

According to the RedSeer Consulting report, the Walmart-owned ecommerce giant reportedly stood at INR 1.9K versus INR 1.4K on Amazon. The homegrown ecommerce giant Flipkart led with a 64% share of the combined gross sales, while Amazon continued to show a higher net promoter score (NPS) which gauges customer loyalty.

The festive season sale may notice even a greater spike this year as the pandemic has facilitated digital adoption. According to Redseers estimates, Covid-driven digital adoption will add 30 Mn-40 Mn new online shoppers in the whole of 2020. This will be an addition to the 130 Mn online shoppers that were recorded in 2019.

Meanwhile, the Redseer report also adds that ecommerce sales may also touch nearly $4 Bn in the upcoming festive season sale. The shoppers are also expected to increase by 70% compared to last year. Almost 40-50% of the shoppers are expected to come from Tier II and beyond cities, 20-25% from Tier II, and nearly 30-35% from metro cities.