Flipkart, Myntra grab big share of GMV in first week of festive sales
2 min read 27 Oct 2020, 07:50 AM ISTSmartphones accounted for 47% of overall gross merchandise value, followed by electronics, appliances
PremiumE-commerce firms such as Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon have sold goods worth nearly $4.1 billion ( ₹29,000 crore) in the first week of festive season sales, compared to $2.7 billion in 2019, according to data from Redseer Consulting.
Smartphones continued to be the biggest category, accounting for 47% of the overall gross merchandise value (GMV), followed by electronics and home appliances, as demand for work-from-home products surged, said the market research and advisory firm.
In the first week of festive sales, Flipkart Group, which includes fashion marketplace Myntra, took the lead, accounting for almost 68% of the overall GMV, Redseer data showed. Typically, Flipkart Group and Amazon together make up 90% of GMV during festive sales. The remaining 10% is taken up by players including Snapdeal, Paytm Mall and others.
“The first category that lures dormant e-commerce customers during every festive sale is smartphones because of the discounts online commerce offers. It is no surprise that even this year this was the trend. However, affordability and credit products added to the mix in pushing smartphone sales," said Mrigank Gutgutia, director, e-commerce, Redseer.
The rise in sales comes on the back of new customers, as well as large numbers of shoppers from smaller cities turning online, as offline retail continues to reel from the impact of the pandemic. Nearly 52 million shoppers flocked on e-commerce websites in the first week of festive sales with 57%, or 31 million customers coming from smaller cities and towns. The reverse migration of metro customers to smaller cities fuelled demand from these towns, as total metro shoppers dipped from 30% in 2019 to 25% in the first week of the 2020 festive sale.
For Flipkart, 65% of new shoppers came from smaller cities this festive season, while Amazon India witnessed 91% of small town new shoppers making purchases during the first 48 hours of its sale.
“Demand spike from tier-2 city shoppers can be witnessed in customer basket sizes, with average spends dropping marginally this year. While tier-2 cities are still taking baby steps and ordering small-ticket sizes, metro customers continue to be the largest contributors, accounting for 45% of overall GMV," Gutgutia said.
Average consumer spends dropped marginally this year to ₹5,500 from ₹6,800 last year.
Flipkart kicked off its Big Billion Days (BBD) sale on 16 October along with Myntra’s Big Fashion Festival, while Amazon started its Great Indian Festival sale a day later. Flipkart saw a growth of nearly 3.2x in premium smartphones during BBD, along with 30% growth in customers adopting for product exchange compared to BBD 2019. Amazon India also said that smartphones continue to be its top selling category.
The fashion category saw a revival this festive season, accounting for 14% of overall GMV versus 17% during the last festive season sale, even though formal wear and ethnic party wear were impacted as people worked from home.
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