Mumbai: E-commerce majors Flipkart and Amazon India on Sunday said they have witnessed a strong start to this year’s festive sale, with demand from tier-II and -III cities driving the momentum.
Walmart-owned Flipkart on Sunday said early access for its ‘Flipkart Plus’ programme (loyalty programme) saw a 40 per cent growth this year compared to last year, while about 45 per cent of customer demand has been from tier-III cities and beyond.
In a separate statement, Amazon India Vice-President Manish Tiwary said the platform saw a 60 per cent increase in sellers who received their highest-ever single-day sales year-on-year on Amazon.in.
Amazon Great Indian Festival 2021, our month-long festive celebrations has gotten off to a strong start, with millions of customers buying from small sellers listed on Amazon.in, including local shops, start-ups and brands, artisans, weavers and SMBs.
During Prime Early Access on October 2, the number of local shops participating in the event more than doubled compared to last year,” he added.
Tiwary noted that Prime subscription continues to be a customer favourite across India, with two out of three new Prime sign-ups coming from tier-II and -III cities and customers shopping in eight Indian languages.
We also saw a 60 per cent increase in sellers who received their highest-ever single-day sales year-on-year on Amazon.in; number of sellers receiving an order from tier II/III cities jumped by 21 per cent, and 16 per cent more sellers received orders over last year, he said.
Early data for Day 1 indicates a strong start across categories for the month-long festive season, he added.
The competition between the two giants is expected to be intense, similar to previous years. Flipkart’s The Big Billion Days Sale and Amazon India’s Great Indian Festival (GIF) has started from Sunday. Both the platforms offered early access to Plus (Flipkart) and Prime (Amazon) customers.
While Flipkart’s The Big Billion Days (TBBD) sale is an eight-day event that will end on October 10, Amazon India’s GIF will be a month-long affair.
Other players like Myntra, Snapdeal and others are also holding similar sale events on their platforms.
Flipkart, in its statement, said the eighth edition of its TBBD started on a positive note, with early trends reflecting upbeat consumer sentiment in the country.