Festival sales: Amazon, Flipkart beat last year figures, but fall short of expectations

As the first week of the festive sales on e-commerce platforms draws to a close, e-retailers have reported higher sales than in last year. The numbers are likely to be lower than what they had anticipated though, The Economic Times has reported.

Smartphones remained the major attraction during the sales despite supply-side challenges that resulted in fewer launches this year. The newly released iPhone13 was unavailable on Flipkart and Amazon India after the initial batch of smartphones sold out. Apple is selling the smartphone through its e-commerce portal in India.

First-leg of festival sales

According to market research firm Forrester, online sales on platforms like Flipkart, Amazon India, and others, including newcomers like Reliance Industries’ JioMart, would be around $6.5 billion in gross merchandise value for the first week, and $9.2 billion for the entire festive month. RedSeer Consulting expected a GMV of $9 billion (October3-November 3).

The total value of sales on a platform within a certain period, including discounts but excluding returns, is referred to as GMV in e-commerce.

The first-week GMV may have underperformed due to last-minute alterations to sale dates, which meant sales began during the Hindu calendar’s ‘Shradh’ month, which is considered unlucky for making purchases, The Economic Times report said.

According to industry insiders, e-tailers can make up for it in the next two sale events before Diwali, which could boost daily shipment volumes to above 9 million, up from more than 6 million last year.

E-commerce sales have increased by double digits this year, but fell short of industry expectation, The Economic Times report quoted TA Krishnan, co-founder of Ecom Express, an e-commerce-focused delivery firm, as saying. Limited smartphone launches due to the chip shortage could be a reason for this, he said, adding that sales beginning during Shradh may have also had an impact.

RedSeer reported that gross sales between October 2 and October 5 (the early access period for premium subscribers on Flipkart and Amazon) were roughly $2.7 billion, putting it on course to meet earlier expectations of $4.8 billion in the first week of sales. Sales via social commerce sites and grocery deliveries are included in the calculation.

Smartphones

While smartphones continue to be one of the most popular items on e-commerce sites during the Diwali discounts, supply-side challenges were a dampener.

Smartphones often account for more than half of all online retail sales.

Many large-ticket purchases are fuelled by choices like exchanging existing products and financing packages like ‘buy now pay later. “So far, the trends have been positive. The final deal before Diwali next month is anticipated to boost grocery sales even more,” Jitender Miglani, a senior forecast analyst at Forrester is quoted as saying in the news report.

Sales coincided with ‘Shradh’

While the Shradh season appears to have had an impact, the founder of a large wearables company claimed that sales in the first week of the flagship sales were two times more than last year. “There are at least two more sales events scheduled, both of which should be successful,” the report quoted an unnamed person, who leads one of the prominent homegrown direct-to-consumer brands in the wearables space.

E-tailers’ high expectations stemmed from the steady recovery in sales following the pandemic’s second wave. It picked up speed in the days leading up to festive sales like Big Billion Days and the Great Indian Festival.