Online Smartphone Sales Share Reach All-Time High In India in Q1 2019

Smartphone shipments from online channels reached its highest ever share of 42% in Q1 2019, according to research by Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service. Online purchases of mobile phones saw an increase of 17% year-on-year (YoY) in the first quarter of 2019, driven by offers, sales events, and attractive launches.

Commenting on the new research, Anshika Jain, a Counterpoint analyst, stated that price cuts for popular devices and more product launches drove online channel shipments to the highest-ever level In Q1 2019. Xiaomi’s Redmi 6A, and Note 6 and 7 series, Samsung’s online exclusive Galaxy M series, Realme 3, Honor 10 Lite, and Asus Zenfone Max Pro series were the significant contributors for the growth of the online segment.

“The high online channel share indicates that the new e-commerce policy has limited impact, and e-commerce giants have found a way to cope,” the report added.

Smartphone shipments in the offline segment declined by 4%, while the online segment grew by 17% YoY. Xiaomi, Realme, ASUS, and Huawei were the most sold brands on Flipkart and accounted for more than four-fifths of its total smartphone shipments. Flipkart Mobile Bonanza and Women’s Day Sale drove purchases of Realme, Asus and Xiaomi phones on its platform.

Although Flipkart grabbed a major online market share at 53% share, Amazon grew faster in the first quarter of 2019 with a 38% YoY growth rate. Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, and OnePlus drove Amazon’s growth.

Amazon’s contribution also reached its highest level in the online premium smartphone segment (phones that are priced more than INR 30,000). It had a share of 81% primarily due to sales of OnePlus, Samsung, and Apple smartphones. Premium smartphone purchases from Flipkart stood at 17% of online smartphone premium segment in the first quarter of 2019.

Xiaomi single-handedly captured around 43% of the total online market share in Q1 2019. Xiaomi’s Redmi 6A, Redmi Note 6 Pro and Redmi Note 7 drove most number of sales, making up to almost two-thirds of the total sale by the manufacturer.

For the first time with Amazon, Samsung brought in online flash sales strategy with its Galaxy M10 and M20 models. This increased Samsung’s online share to 15% in Q1 2019 with 31% YoY growth in the online segment.

Midrange segments (INR 15,000-20,000) were the favourites — the fastest growing price segment in the online market in Q1 2019, driven by the sale of smartphones by Xiaomi and Huawei.