E-tailers see more buyers from towns
BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: E-commerce firms and retail brands are seeing a spike in purchases by consumers from small towns, where demand has been recovering relatively quickly after Covid-19 disruptions helped push buyers online.
Demand in India’s smaller towns and cities was naturally inclined toward essentials during the lockdown, now categories such as electronics and apparel also witnessed a good pick-up.
Amazon India, in its two-day Prime Day sale last week, said it saw more than twice as many customers sign up for Prime membership than in the 2019 edition, and over 65% of the new members came from outside of the top 10 cities. Members registered from towns as far apart as Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, Leh in Ladakh, Dholpur and Sirohi in Rajasthan and Koraput in Odisha. Moreover, 70% of the nearly 100,000 small and medium businesses (SMBs) who participated were from small towns. And they received orders from across 97% of the country’s pin codes, Amazon said. “Consumers in smaller cities are displaying similar buying trends as those in metros. While essentials such as groceries did well, even priority non-essentials like electronics saw good momentum. The importance of product selection, value pricing and convenience in buying are higher in non-metros,” Amit Agarwal, senior vice-president and country manager at Amazon India, said in an interview.
Flipkart-owned fashion e-tailer Myntra’s ‘End of Reason Sale’ in June-end, the first big e-commerce sale of the year, drew over 3.5 million customers. Myntra recorded an 86% increase in the number of customers from tier-II and III cities and beyond, the highest so far, said Amar Nagaram, CEO, Myntra.
Suneera Tandon contributed to the story.