E-tailers may see 50% rise in festive sales

Flipkart, Amazon projected to cross $7 billion in these sales during Covid-19

The upcoming festive sales are expected to push up the annual gross merchandise value (GMV) of e-commerce companies to around $38 billion, a growth rate of 40 per cent from the previous year. With Covid restrictions playing a spoilsport for physical retail, e-commerce festive sales could cross the $7-billion mark, according to a report by research firm Redseer Consulting. This is estimated to be 50 per cent more than what e-commerce players had garnered last year from these sales.

Top e-commerce firms would host flagship sale events such as Flipkart’s ‘Big Billion Days’ and Amazon’s ‘Great Indian Festival’ between October and November.

Driven by the massive shopper growth, Redseer expects the sales for the first event itself to grow 50 per

cent year-on-year over last year to reach $4 billion. It said Covid-19 had resulted in a significant rise in the number of new online shoppers as consumers now, more than ever before, prefer to shop in a manner

that is convenient, safe and hygienic. With about a month to go for the sales, consumers are already showing positive sentiments.

“Because of Covid, consumers have become more digitally savvy.

Those consumers that you would never expect to buy specific products online have gained the confidence to do it. That increases the potential number of customers that would transact on (e-commerce) platforms,” said Mrigank Gutgutia, director for e-commerce at Redseer, in an interview. “Because of Covid, offline shopping has been curtailed a lot. People from tier 2 and tier-3 cities and towns have become comfortable with online shopping due to Covid.”

Offline recovery is still weak as consumers are apprehensive about visiting high human touchpoint areas like malls and retail outlets. This year, the Bharat and democratisation theme, along with Covid, would see a much higher number of shoppers buy online during festive sales. Majority of these users are coming from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and towns.

There is also a rise in new shopping models owing to changing customer demographics. This includes video-based and Whatsapp-based shopping.

“E-commerce firms are investing a lot on warehousing and supply chain as they want to ensure that so many new customers should have a good experience,” said Gutgutia.

Among others, Flipkart has said it will help generate over 70,000 direct and millions of indirect seasonal jobs as it gears up for the upcoming festive season and its Big Billion Days (BBD). The onboarding of more than 50,000 kirana stores by the company for last-mile delivery will also create thousands of seasonal jobs.

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