It?s festival time in India and shopping portals are witnessing a large number of users buying gifts and products also for personal use.
Cashing in on the growing number of online shoppers, portals like rediff and ebay are readying themselves for increased traffic, with a series of offerings to consumers. According to Assocham, e-shopping sales for Diwali this year is expected to register a growth of 130% in consumer durables alone.
Says Manish Agarwal, VP-marketing, Rediff, ?We have noticed non-resident Indians (NRIs) shopping more online during the festive season. During Raksha Bandhan, online shopping by NRIs contribute to about 30% of total shopping, whereas during Diwali, it increases to 60%. Moreover, we are expecting a growth of 40% in our business this festive season,? he adds.
Rediff have announced a series of offerings for its consumers, which include its offering of special gift vouchers of Rs 1,000 with every purchase.
CompareIndia.com, a portal that helps compare products in 32 different categories, has seen an increase in the number of visitors on their portal each day from 85,000 to 1,00,000 during the festive season, which adds up to 3 million visitors a month.
Similarly, eBay India has introduced a ?Get lucky? offer, where consumers who shop on the portal will get a discount coupon of 10-50% on all their purchases.
?The products that are sold most are in the tech and fashion category, which include mobile phones and accessories, MP3 players, digital cameras and jewellery, among others,? said Ratin Lahiri, chief marketing officer, eBay India.
Online shopping boom is not restricted to metros alone. Lucknow ranks high in the beauty products category and Ahmedabad for online shopping of toys. Jaipur is seen to be buying books, movies and home tools online; Nasik logs in for apparel and Trichy for food products, the Assocham report adds.