Meesho Clocks 1.6 Cr App Installs During Festive Sale, Claims To Be Riding The Profitable Wave

Cashing in on the online festive season sale rush, ecommerce unicorn Meesho clocked a ‘record’ 1.6 Cr app installs during its recently concluded flagship ‘Meesho Mega Blockbuster Sale’.

During the 10-day sale, the company claims to have logged 120 Cr user visits across categories such as home and kitchen, fashion and beauty and personal care (BPC). The ecommerce platform also witnessed an average of 72 orders per second across the three categories during the festive sale event. 

While BPC witnessed growth in excess of 80% during the sale, sales across men’s fashion and home decor categories jumped 90% and 75%, respectively. The kids’ wear purchases on the platform also jumped by 114% during the festive sale. 

In a major announcement, the company claimed that it ‘continues’ to remain profitable and cash flow positive since it first announced profitability in July this year. However, the company did not divulge any further details. 

Meanwhile, Meesho Mall continued to see traction as the platform saw a 3X surge in orders compared to its business-as-usual days. A majority of orders, 70%, on its in-app branded store came from first-time users, as per the company. 

The unicorn also claimed that, under its loyalty programme, users placed nearly 1.4 Cr orders during the 10-day-long festive sale period. Cities such as Amravati, Aurangabad, Dehradun, Nellore, Solapur, and Warangal generated the biggest chunk of order for Meesho during the period. 

“… We are overjoyed by the success of our sellers. The significant increase in their sales has made the Mega Blockbuster Sale a success and is a testament to our commitment towards fostering the growth of small businesses,” said chief experience officer (CX) for growth at Meesho Megha Agarwal.

Ahead of the sale, the company had onboarded nearly 2 Lakh new sellers and, as per the company, nearly 30,000 sellers became ‘lakhpatis’ during the sale event. Interestingly, there is no clarity on whether the ‘Lakhpatis’ corresponded to the volume of orders or actual profits. 

Previously, the ecommerce unicorn said that it received nearly 1 Cr orders from customers during the pre-festive season promotions during Onam, Raksha Bandhan, and Ganesh Chaturthi. Curiously, competitor and ecommerce juggernaut Flipkart clocked 1.4 Bn customer visits during its Big Billion Days festive season sale between October 8 and 15 this year.

Prior to the festive sale, Meesho also opened its platform for non-GST sellers with an eye on increasing its seller base.

Founded in 2015 by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Meesho is a 0% commission model-based ecommerce platform. The company claims to have nearly 14 Lakh sellers and 12 Cr products listed on its platform. 

Backed by names such as SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, Prosus & Naspers, and Meta, the ecommerce platform has raised more than $1 Bn to date. 

Just last week, investment giant WestBridge Capital acquired a stake in Meesho through a secondary transaction from the company’s early backer Venture Highway. The early-stage venture fund earned more than 50X return from the stake sale. 

Even though the company claimed to have turned profitable as of July 2023, Meesho had recorded a net loss of INR 3,247.8 in FY22, up 550% YoY.