Amazon's GIF, Flipkart's TBBD witness strong start to festive sale

Flipkart and Amazon India’s festive sale saw a great start, with demand from tier-II and tier-III towns driving the pace. Early access for Walmart-owned Flipkart’s “Flipkart Plus” programme (loyalty programme) increased by 40% this year compared to last year, with about 45% of customer demand coming from tier-III cities and beyond.

Amazon.in saw a 60% increase in vendors receiving their highest-ever single-day sales year-over-year.

“Amazon Great Indian Festival 2021, our month-long festive celebrations, is off to a strong start, with millions of customers buying from small sellers listed on Amazon.in, including local businesses, start-ups and brands, artists, weavers, and SMBs,” says the company.

“In comparison to last year, the number of local merchants participating in Prime Early Access on October 2 more than doubled,” he noted.

Tiwary highlighted that Prime membership remains popular among Indian customers, with two out of every three new Prime sign-ups coming from tier-II and tier-III cities, and people purchasing in eight Indian languages.

“We also observed a 60% increase in merchants receiving their highest-ever single-day sales on Amazon.in year-over-year; the number of sellers receiving orders from tier II/III cities increased by 21%, and 16% more sellers received orders than last year,” he said.

He noted that preliminary data for Day 1 indicated a robust start across categories for the month-long holiday season.

The competition between the two is expected to be fierce, as it has been in recent years. The Big Billion Days Sale on Flipkart and Amazon India’s Great Indian Festival (GIF) began on Sunday. Plus (Flipkart) and Prime (Amazon) users had early access to both marketplaces.

The Big Billion Days (TBBD) sale on Flipkart will last eight days and end on October 10, but Amazon India’s GIF will last a month.

Similar sales events are being held by other players like as Myntra, Snapdeal, and others on their sites.