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E-tailers bet on India’s next internet boom for sales push
Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal together sold 40 million products in the first week of October as a part of festival season sales, raking in over $1 billion (₹6,650 crore) in revenues.
Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal together sold 40 million products in the first week of October as a part of festival season sales, raking in over $1 billion (₹6,650 crore) in revenues.
According to industry chamber Assocham, e-tailers are expected to earn ₹25,000 crore this festival season, up from ₹20,000 crore last year. The festival season typically runs from Durga Puja in October till Chhath in November.
But this is just the beginning.
In India, only one out of every three Indians has internet access. In the US, nine out of 10 people are on the web, and holiday e-commerce sales on “Cyber Monday” last year (November 30) had eclipsed those of brick-and-mortar stores on “Black Friday”, the day following Thanksgiving and the start of the country’s holiday shopping season.
Amazon India and Flipkart saw 100 million page visits during the festival season this year.
During this year’s five-day “Great India Festival Sale,” Amazon had five times more customers than last year, the company spokesperson said.
India had 354 million internet users in 2015. By 2016, over 100 million more are expected to get on the web, mostly in smaller towns. So, the opportunity is huge for e-commerce companies.
This year, Amazon received orders from 90% of the country’s pin codes.
For Flipkart, share of orders from smaller cities rose from 34% last year to 42% this year.
“The annual festive season sales are helping expand the market,” the Flipkart spokesperson said.
