If you thought that the country was going through the worst recession in its history, think again. Ask Amazon, ask Flipkart. Both e-commerce majors are reaping the benefits in the ongoing festive season sales where buyers, stuck indoors because of coronavirus fears, have made a beeline for online shopping.
While Flipkart’s Big Billion Sales began on October 16 and will conclude tomorrow, Amazon’s the Great Indian Festival Sale started a day later and will also end tomorrow.
Flipkart’s sales clocked a 60 per cent increase in digital payments in the first 72 hours in comparison to non-festive days. And mind you, the buyers were mostly from tier-II and tier-III cities.
According to Flipkart, between September 1 and October 14, it registered 36 million new app downloads across India, including from smaller cities like Ranchi, Midnapore, Cuttack, Guwahati and Darbhanga.
While the latest figures from Amazon are not available, the e-commerce company introduced Navratri and Pujo stores where consumers could buy specially curated products for the festivals.
Similarly, with the IPL on, it added “Cricket T-20 Experience” store from where people can buy their favourite team’s merchandise. Apart from that, the Dhanteras store will offer great deals on gold coins, utensils and Diwali home décor.
According to market experts, small and marginal businesses are witnessing green shoots with the festive sales. At Flipkart, 60 per cent of over 3 lakh sellers are from tier-II cities. The seller base expanded by 20 per cent this year totalling up to 3,000+ pincodes. The company claimed that over 70-plus sellers have become crorepartis and around 10,000 lakhpatis through early access and the three days of Big Billions Sales 2020.
Similarly according to Amazon, which had got a survey conducted by Nielsen, claimed that more than 85 per cent of small and marginal business sellers on Amazon.in are expecting to reach out to new customers. The company has 6.5 lakh-plus sellers.
Both the e-commerce majors are offering huge discounts and EMI options to attract customers. At Amazon, customers can save with 10 per cent instant discount with HDFC Bank debit and credit cards; no-cost EMI on credit and debit cards; exchange offers, and win daily shopping rewards worth Rs 10,000 on Amazon Pay, send Amazon Pay gift cards.
Similarly, Flipkart for this festive season has partnered with State Bank of India (SBI), Paytm and other leading financial institutions like Bajaj Finserv Cards with no-cost EMI offers. Both the e-commerce majors are also ready with pay-later options to encourage sales.
Shweta Bali, a resident of Gurgaon, said, “With the kind of offers this time, it is really tempting to at least buy something. Coronavirus has already ruined festive spirits and socializing. Let’s try to lift personal and the family’s spirits with shopping at least.”
Neha Sinha another resident of Gurgaon said, “Festivity in India is all about shopping. It’s a tradition in our family to buy new things in Navratras and we continued with it this year too. But instead of going to the markets, we opted for online shopping as a precautionary measure.” She added that beating the blues is really important especially during the testing times of coronavirus.
According to Flipkart, there was a 60 per cent increase in device and appliance insurance in comparison to 2019. It said there was a 40 per cent increase in smartphone purchase and 50 per cent increase in product exchange.
