Consumers clicked with e-tailers this Diwali, and how. Even as brick-and-mortar retailers ranted against online players for selling products at lower prices, consumers swarmed the e-tailing sites because of their convenience, wide choice, and discounts.
Flipkart’s Big Billion Day sale problems did not deter the e-shoppers. Indeed, there was record growth in sales for e-commerce firms this season. For many, it was over 500 per cent growth year on year.
Amit Agarwal, Country Manager & VP, Amazon India, said: “This Diwali the response has been beyond our wildest expectations. With millions of customers making their first purchase on Amazon.in, and over 50 per cent of orders coming from non-metros, our ₹10 crore monthly sales seller club grew by five times and there were traffic spikes on multiple occasions throughout the month-long celebrations.”
According to managed online marketplace Shopclues, the highest number of purchases was made in the pre-Diwali week, with smartphones, laptops, electronic appliances and apparel registering as the top-selling categories, followed closely by home and kitchen ware.
Besides, consumers chucked brands for local home-appliance brands, fashionwear and ‘made-in-India’ products with 70 per cent of the traffic coming from tier-II and -III cities.
Gold and silver-plated items were the most popular in the gifting category.
Smaller cities buy in “The increase in sales from tier-II and -III cities and of non-standard products reinforces the immense potential that an online marketplace like us holds in the Indian retail scenario,” said Shopclues’ Founder Radhika Aggarwal. She added that the adoption of prepaid payment options over the cash-on-delivery mode was also high.
For ebay.in, mobile traffic surged 46 per cent this season compared with 25 per cent last year. For Homeshop18, average daily sales increased by 250 per cent this Diwali.
Advertising push Industry watchers say the increased advertisements and campaigns carried out by big players such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon and Shopclues helped spur sales. Even smaller vertical players undertook their first-ever promotional activities during the season.
According to a survey by Homeshop18, average ticket prices increased by 20 per cent to around ₹3,500. The sales were in line with industry body Assocham’s prediction of 350 per cent growth for online shopping in what is being hailed as ‘India’s first online Diwali’.