With Huge Discounts, No-Cost EMI, And ‘Pay-Later’ Schemes; Flipkart’s Big Billion Day Is Here

Ecommerce shopping platform Flipkart has announced the date of this year’s Big Billion Day shopping festival. It will be reportedly held from October 2 to October 6, 2016. This will be the third edition of the the annual sale.

Preparations for the flagship sales event this year are being led by Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who rejoined Flipkart as head of category management in June.

The event was first launched by Flipkart in October 2014. While offering discounts to its customers, Flipkart has also reportedly launched a no-cost EMI payment option for high-priced items. It will also facilitate product exchange schemes for attracting customers.

Flipkart is also planning to go with a ‘buy-now-pay-later’ scheme this year. It is also reportedly in talks with its sellers to arrange pre-approved loans for its customers, as well.

In October 2014, Flipkart’s sale fetched almost $100 Mn in a single day. However, mismanagement of the large number of orders created a dampener on the company. Last year, the sale event brought $30 Bn in over three days.

With the approaching festival season, India’s ecommerce sector is sure to become a battleground with Flipkart, Amazon India, and Snapdeal being the major players. These online marketplaces are trying to outdo each other and generate the highest amount of revenue by enticing customers with attractive deals.

Earlier last week, while denying staff cuts, Flipkart claimed to have plans to hire 10,000 temporary employees to prepare for the upcoming festive season. While Amazon India increased its last mile delivery network to 12,500 stores, Snapdeal has also launched its new brand identity “Unbox Zindagi” earlier this week. It also unveiled a new logo. It has reportedly invested about $30 Mn (INR 200 Cr) for the brand overhaul.