This year, average customer spend on mobiles, electronics, large appliances, fashion and grocery/FMCG during the festival season sale is estimated at ₹12,800, ₹12,288, ₹14,450, ₹4,750 and ₹2,600 respectively, says RedSeer Consulting, which conducted a survey in the first week of October to get a pulse on shopper buying behaviour.
“The average GMV per shopper this year is likely to be $82, which is 13 per cent lower than last year’s spend of $94. However, the drop in per shopper spend will be offset by millions of new shoppers who will be shopping this year – more than 45 million, an increase of 70 per cent over last year. Considering the net effect of steep rise in number of shoppers and the decline in per shopper online spend, overall e-commerce GMV during the first event starting Friday, of the festival sale will grow almost 50 per cent YoY,” said Mrigank Gutgutia, Director at RedSeer.
Pent-up demand
Owing to pent-up demand, fashion is likely to be bought by 80 per cent of shoppers and mobiles will be purchased by over 60 per cent of shoppers during the festival period.
The key reasons for buying these categories is ‘product upgradation’ and ‘need for additional products.’ Other reasons for buying in pre-Covid times including, gifting, wardrobe improvement and trial of new products are on the back burner this year.
Small sellers on horizontal e-commerce platforms are expecting a 35 per cent jump in sales compared to last year’s festive season sales.
“Most of the sellers are dishing out additional discounts of 20-30 per cent on their products to shoppers compared to last year’s sale which will drive the acquisition of new shoppers during this year’s festival period,” said Gutgutia.
E-commerce push
With offline retail still at sub-30 per cent recovery compared to pre-Covid times, brands have taken e-commerce more seriously, setting aggressive targets for online sales which is expected to grow their online business 4x – 5X times during festival days compared to pre-Covid sales. “Brands are launching online first products, going omnichannel, partnering with online marketplaces, launching individual mobile apps for their individual brands and focusing on digital marketing,” said Gutgutia.