Well, the wait for this year’s festive season sale is over as both the ecommerce companies will begin doling out mega discounts on their respective platforms starting October 8, making consumers eagerly browse for the best deals out there.
However, there is a curious twist in this year’s tale, as Amazon was seen shifting the date of its “Great Indian Festival” sale to a couple of days earlier — from October 10 to October 8 now.
While it is not clear what triggered the ecommerce giant to make such a move, what will be interesting to see is how it plans to give tough competition to Flipkart’s “The Big Billion Days”, for there ought to be a strategic reason behind the restructuring of dates.
Sale banner that went live earlier
Notably, Amazon India’s rival Flipkart on Thursday announced that its festive season sale would begin on October 8 and end on October 15.
Meanwhile, an email sent to Amazon India seeking clarity on the change of dates didn’t elicit any response until the time of publishing this story.
Interestingly, as per a source, the banner that advertised the ‘Great Indian Festival on October 10’ was a “glitch”. However, there is no clarity if the error (‘glitch’) was human or technical.
As of now, what makes sense is that in the cut-throat ecommerce market, embracing the first-mover advantage is of the essence as any delay could result in customers flocking to the rival platforms. This could also be the prime reason why the starting dates of the festive season sales of the two ecommerce giants have been clashing for the last few years.
The Ever-Growing Festive Sales
Over the years, the festive season sale has emerged as an important event for Indian ecommerce companies. Basking in the festive spirit, Indians form a beeline for ecommerce platforms to buy everything from fashion and home decor items to electronic products.
To make the most of the festive season sales, ecommerce platforms and manufacturers dole out attractive deals and discounts, including new product launches.
As per industry estimates, around 7.5 Cr to 8.5 Cr Indians shopped on ecommerce platforms during the festive season sale last year. This number is expected to rise further to nearly 14 Cr shoppers during this year’s sales, according to the Redseer report.
In its report, the research firm anticipates that the gross merchandise value (GMV) of the country’s ecommerce sector is expected to grow 18-20% to INR 90,000 Cr during the upcoming festive season sales from INR 76,000 Cr last year.
Meanwhile, Flipkart has also announced that this year around 1.4 Mn sellers, a 27% jump from the previous year, will be catering during the festive season sale.
As such, preparations by the ecommerce players are in full swing. Flipkart recently rolled out an extension of its Plus Premium membership, which will offer additional benefits to users, including extra discounts on selected products, early access to sales and cashback in the form of Supercoins.
Earlier this month, Amazon India launched multi-channel fulfilment (MCF) for sellers, including D2C brands and retailers, to help them handle customer orders received from various channels.
Both Flipkart and Amazon have also leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) on their platforms. While Flipkart has introduced an AI-driven catalogue designer aimed at assisting sellers in crafting compelling product catalogues, Amazon has integrated advanced AI capabilities to aid sellers in creating more effective product descriptions, titles, and listing particulars.
Meanwhile, Meesho has expanded its branded products portfolio to make the most of the festive fervour.
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