Amazon, Flipkart sparing no expense for sale season
NEWDELHI:E -commerce companies are sparing no effort—and expense—to woo consumers to loosen their purse strings during the upcoming festival season. The biggest online retailers in India are expected to collectively spend an estimated ₹400 crore on advertising to promote Diwali sales, a 10% jump from last year, according to top media buyers.
The festive season sale will mark the biggest showdown in Indian e-commerce with arch rivals Flipkart and Amazon launching big discounts, deals as well as advertising campaigns to promote their offers heavily across media platforms. Flipkart’s flagship Big Billion Days sale will kickstart from October 10 while Amazon India’s five-day long Great Indian Festival is also expected to start in October. A host of players such as online grocery platform Grofers, online furniture retailer Pepperfry as well as Paytm Mall will also be spending advertising money to grab a pie of the festival season sale this year.
“I believe e-commerce platforms will spend heavily on advertising this festival season with television and print dominating the ad spends. Full page print ads and jackets from October onwards will promote upcoming deals and discounts,” said independent media-buying consultant Harsha Joshi.
Amazon’s mass media campaign for the festive season is inspired by the insight that during Diwali families make big-ticket purchases but limited budgets often pushes them to prioritize the things they buy.
“Our campaign ‘India ki khushiyon ke beech, budget nai aayega’ (loosely translated as ‘budget will not be a hindrance to happiness’) will highlight that Amazon is offering various deals, exchange offers and EMI options so that every Indian family can afford the Diwali gifts they deserve,” said Ravi Desai, director, mass and brand marketing, Amazon India.
Flipkart has started promoting the campaign ‘Big Billion Days are back’ across digital platforms with mass media campaign expected to be launched soon. An email query send to the company remained unanswered.
Paytm Mall, the e-commerce arm of Paytm, festive advertising is slated to start from October promoting the sale which will continue till the end of the year.
“This year we will be increasing our focus on affordability services for categories like mobiles, consumer electronics and large appliances. Around 20-25% of consumers currently opt for affordability services as they are making a purchase on our platform. Our goal is to expand the reach of these cost-effective services by driving adoption among a wider consumer base,” said a Paytm spokesperson.