E-com may hit $9-bn GMV in festive season
Amazon, Flipkart, and other e-tailers are expected to witness blockbuster festival season sales of around $9 billion this year, surpassing pre-pandemic sales of $5 billion in 2019. The pandemic has accelerated the shift to e-commerce, with more consumers shopping online at a higher frequency than last year, observed analysts.
E-commerce firms Amazon, Flipkart, and others are expected to witness blockbuster festival season sales of around $9 billion this year, surpassing pre-pandemic sales of $5 billion in 2019. The pandemic has accelerated the shift to e-commerce, with more consumers shopping online at a higher frequency than last year, observed analysts.
This year’s festival sales (gross merchandise value or GMV) are expected to grow 30 per cent year-on-year (YOY) to $4.8 billion during the first week of the season and potentially clock over $9-billion GMV during the whole festival month, revealed consulting firm Redseer’s ecommerce festival season report.
This is a 23 per cent increase from last year’s forecast, where e-commerce players were expected to clock $7.4-billion GMV. But this actually touched $8.3 billion last year.
The overall online GMV is expected to touch $49-52 billion, up 37 per cent from last year, primarily driven by strong consumer funnel expansion and higher adoption of online shopping across categories. “We believe this year's online festival sales will continue to ride on strong tailwinds of greater consumer digital adoption, supported by an increasingly positive macro and consumption sentiment after the Covid-19 second wave,” said Mrigank Gutgutia, associate partner, Redseer.
Last year, India’s online festival sales in October-november raked in $8.3 billion in gross sales, up from $5 billion (65-per cent YOY), said Redseer. The firm had forecast over $7 billion in sales, but the actual figures exceeded expectations, showing how comfortable consumers had become with online shopping in a pandemic-hit year.
The year’s sales growth will be mostly driven by accelerated online adoption. Also, tier-ii-plus cities and towns will continue to drive growth since they comprise 55-60 per cent of the total shopper base, similar or higher than 57 per cent in 2020. Even as offline retail and mobility recovery are at pre-covid levels, these will impact online sales since customers may choose to shop offline. “We expect a strong 30-per cent YOY growth in the festival sales week to reach $4.8 billion in GMV, setting the stage for a strong year for e-commerce in 2021,” said Gutgutia.
While mobiles will continue to dominate, driven by new launches, electronics is expected to see the second-highest demand, riding on selection, easy payment options and Buy Now Pay Later. The Redseer report finds that sellers are bullish on this year’s sales and are looking to recoup the losses suffered due to the pandemic. Nearly 80 per cent of sellers agreed that the festival sales will play a key role in recovery from Covid losses. Around 70 per cent agreed that the bigger online players have been supportive. Amazon and Flipkart are strengthening their supply chain networks, with the addition of new facilities. They are also scaling up their hiring initiatives to meet consumer demand.
Flipkart will kick off the country’s festival season with the eighth edition of its biggest flagship event, The Big Billion Days, from October 7-12.