Etailers to ship 8 m goods this festive season
MORE ON OFFER But discounts to be lower as companies move away from GMV metric
NEW DELHI: The festive spirit is in the air, and the one sector that is betting big on it is e-commerce.
Last year, almost three million packets were shipped everyday, and the number is expected to touch 8 million this time around.
So expect a flurry of products, but at lower discounts, as companies move away from the metric of gross merchandise value (GMV) — the total value of goods sold without discounts.
There has been a difference between GMV figures and actual revenues of e-tailers. Discounts also added to the disparity.
“There will be an almost threetime jump versus last festive season,” said K Satyanarayana, co-founder of one of India’s largest e-commerce logistics provider, Ecom Express, which delivered 300,000 products every day during the period in 2015.
The festive season lasts for around 60 days beginning with Ganesh Chathurti in September till the Chhath Puja in November. During this period, festivals, including Diwali, Eid and Durga Puja, see a big surge in sales.
E-commerce companies start preparations in April itself. Amazon, India’s second-largest e-tailer, has quadrupled its seller base to 120,000 since last year. It will provide a selection of 80 million products, for 60 million online buyers.
With 20-25 million new shoppers expected to come online this year, the festive period is more important for e-commerce companies than the rest of the year. “The fourth quarter of 2015 was bigger than the rest of the year,” said Gopal Pillai, head of seller services at Amazon India.
Pillai hopes more products will attract more buyers, which will give economies of scale to sellers, who will further reduce prices.
Snapdeal will use analytics to give sellers a price at which they can sell more. As sellers compete with each other, discounts are likely to go up. “You have to tickle consumers to buy, because that’s the mindset… but we have moved away from GMV,” said Kunal Bahl, CEO, Snapdeal.
India’s biggest e-commerce firm, Flipkart, is also not talking of huge discounts. A company spokesperson said: “We will go big to make products affordable. Our no-cost EMIs, product exchange and basket discounts will enable customers to buy a lot more with a smaller budget.”