SUMMARY
JioMart began its ‘Tyohaar Ready Sale’ on September 23, along with competitors like Flipkart and Amazon
JioMart saw more than 60% of its sales coming from Tier 2 cities and beyond
The Reliance-owned platform is focusing on categories like electronics, home and kitchen, fashion and lifestyle, among others, in the festive season to expand offerings
For quite a few years now, the annual festive sales of ecommerce companies in India have been the talk of the town due to aggressive discounts and high-decibel marketing campaigns. While the festive sales in the country were driven by Amazon and Flipkart before the pandemic, this year the ecommerce giants are also facing competition from JioMart, Tata Neu, Meesho, among others.
The optimism around festive sales is higher this year as it is the first pandemic restrictions-free festive season in the last three years, and the ecommerce players have gone all out to cash in on the sentiment.
JioMart and other ecommerce players such as Amazon, Flipkart started their festive sales on 23 September. However, Amazon and Flipkart gave early access to paid members from September 22.
A JioMart spokesperson told Inc42 that the online selling channel of Reliance Retail Ventures saw a 2.5X spike in traffic and overall sales during its ‘Tyohaar Ready Sale’ from September 23-30. Besides, there was also a 3X increase in app installations for JioMart during the period.
However, the spokesperson didn’t give any details about the sales value during the period.
According to a Redseer report, the ecommerce marketplaces in the country together clocked total sales of $5.7 Bn (INR 40,000 Cr) during the first week of their festive sales, a growth of 27% year-on-year (YoY),
Amazon and Flipkart also claimed to have seen a high growth in the number of paid members on the first day of their sales.
Flipkart was at the first position among the ecommerce players with 62% share in the total gross merchandise value (GMV) during the first week of the festive sales, followed by Meesho and Amazon, as per Redseer.
Despite their high-profile launches, new players such as JioMart and TataNeu were not able to acquire a significant share in terms of GMV, the report added.
Festive Cheer For Sellers
The increase in sales translated into higher revenue for sellers on the JioMart platform during the festive season. The JioMart spokesperson said that over 50% of sellers witnessed a 2X increase in sales, while top sellers witnessed a 5X increase in orders during the first eight days of the sale.
It must be noted that JioMart grew its merchant partner base to more than 20 Lakh partners in FY22, adding around 1.5 lakh partners a month, Reliance Retail Ventures Director Isha Ambani said during the annual general meeting (AGM) of parent company Reliance Industries Ltd.
Overall, the ecommerce industry saw a 2X growth in the number of sellers ahead of the festive season, thanks to the zero-commission policy introduced by a few ecommerce players and lower commission fees offered by others.
Amazon India waived 50% selling fee during this festive season and onboarded more than 9,000 sellers from the North East before the start of the sale. On the other hand, Flipkart also claimed to have seen 220% YoY growth this year in the number of new sellers joining its marketplace.
Tier-2 Cities And Beyond Drive Growth
Like most of its peers, JioMart said that more than 60% of its sales came from Tier-2 cities and beyond. Going beyond the festive season, this can be a good growth catalyst for JioMart.
JioMart delivered products in over 260 towns during the financial year 2021-22, Ambani said during the AGM.
The next wave of growth in online shopping in the country is expected to come from Tier-2, 3 cities and beyond. As a result, most of the ecommerce players are expanding their presence and services to these areas.
Amazon said it witnessed 68% of new ‘Prime’ sign-ups from Tier-2, 3 cities during the first two days of its festive sales. On the other hand, Flipkart also said that a majority of its ‘Flipkart Plus’ membership growth came from Tier-2, 3 cities.
According to an Inc42 report, the number of online shoppers in the country is projected to reach 350 Mn by 2025. Reliance Retail has been pushing its digital commerce business aggressively in recent times, and the platform can benefit from the growth in Tier-2 cities. However, the competition remains significantly high in the ecommerce market.
JioMart Focusing On Additional Categories
While JioMart was launched with an eye on online grocery shopping, the company has been expanding its presence in other categories to compete with rivals like Flipkart and Amazon. The Reliance-owned platform is focusing on categories like electronics, home and kitchen, fashion and lifestyle, beauty, FMCG, and consumer durables this festive season to expand its offerings and increase revenue.
“We also increased the number of products by over 80X compared to the previous year. These efforts combined with convenient JioMart-Whatsapp ordering and no minimum order limit for free delivery have resulted in an overall demand spike in grocery as well as other categories,” the JioMart spokesperson said.
Reliance extended its partnership with WhatsApp earlier this year to provide an end-to-end shopping experience for JioMart customers under which they can browse through JioMart’s entire grocery catalogue, add items to cart, and, most importantly, make the payment on the messaging app itself.
