We’d like to compare the eCommerce strategies of the Big 3 in India during the recent festival season.
Instead of a single Big Billion Day sale last year, Flipkart held this year’s sales over 5 days between October 13-17. Flipkart sold products worth Rs. 20bn (c. $300mn) this year (vs 6bn sold last year), with a total of 8 mn units being sold, compared to 2.7million units being sold last year. The company saw 150mn visits over five days in comparison to 40mn traffic registered last year. Mobile remained the highest selling product registering $200mn worth mobile sales (vs $60mn sold last year) with 250 mobile phones sold every minute during the 5 day sale. Flipkart clocked 5million app downloads over the course of the sale.
Amazon held its Great Indian Festive Sale overlapping the Flipkart sales (over October 13-17). While Amazon did not share specific numbers, they reported that the first day of the sales were biggest day in Amazon India’s history in terms of revenue. The company reported a 2-fold growth in customers and units compared to the Freedom sales (in August ahead of the Independence Day) and 4-fold growth in sales compared to year’s festive sales, with 70% of the traffic coming from mobile. It witnessed a 3x growth in the mobile phone category over the last year, with more than 20% of the phones being sold above the Rs. 20k price range. It reported a fivefold increase in the number of new customers on its site, compared with traffic on a non-sale day.
In contrast to Flipkart and Amazon, Snapdeal ran its sales campaign over 8 weeks from September 22 to November 17, with new deals every Monday (deals in different categories every week). On sales days, Snapdeal saw 17x more sales volume than usual, with Electronic Monday sales generating $100mn in GMV. Snapdeal shipped 6 million units as of October 19, with furniture being the fastest growing category and electronics the largest. The company’s mobile app was downloaded 5mn times during the sales period, with 65-70% of the sales being accounted by the app. More than 60% of the orders came from smaller cities, with over 350% increase in first-time buyers.
PayTM held its 3 day festive sale between 4-6 November. The company is targeting a 10x rise in sales during the discount period. PayTM expects to realize a GMV of Rs. 10bn from the entire festive season, 25-30% of which it expects to come over the 3 day sales period. PayTM said, that in October, with the season sale starting, it had recorded 4x rise in sales compared to the previous month. In terms of unit volumes, home decor, gifts and sweets, large appliances and mobile phones, in that order are expected to be the drivers of the sale. In terms of sales value, mobile and apparel are expected to be the top selling categories, followed by large appliances and home decor.
NO doubt with such staggering Sales by Flipkart, the company’s valuation has soared from mere $2.6 Mn to $15 Bn.