E-commerce giant Flipkart said it attracted more than four million first-time customers during its eight-day annual flagship event, The Big Billion Days. That comprises about 10% of its total customer base of 400 million. Further, the Walmart-owned company said one billion customers visited the platform during the sale.
In the run-up to the event, which ended on Friday, Flipkart saw about 35 million app downloads. That was lower than the 50.5 million downloads last festive season, which gave it a market share of 62%, according to estimates by Bernstein analysts.
This festive season, most e-commerce players saw their sales come from non-metro cities. Flipkart said more than 60% of its customers came from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
Besides, more than 50% of Flipkart’s transacting sellers saw a 1.5x increase in their business. The company recently announced it now has 1.1 million sellers across its main platform and Shopsy, the social commerce section. The Big Billion Days 2022 marked an increase of more than 100% in millionaire sellers on the marketplace since the last edition.
Rival Amazon, too, said that after the initial sale days about 75% of its sales came from non-metro cities, while small towns in India drove 85% of Meesho’s sales.
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Manjari Singhal, senior director – customer, growth, and events, Flipkart, said, “We are constantly striving to uplift the entire ecosystem through our tailored offerings and innovations. This Big Billion Days has already fostered immense growth opportunities for our sellers, brands, transport and kirana delivery partners, with the help of bespoke financial offerings accessible on the platform, better revenue-generating avenues for them, and expanded reach across the nation.”
Smartphones, which drive about 45% of sales, saw an increase of about 70% in shipments, the company said. Premium mobile phones costing `20,000 and upwards comprised almost 50% of the total mobiles sold. Other electronic items like laptops, true wireless audio devices and smartwatches were in demand, too. The next biggest category was fashion and lifestyle. Beauty and general merchandise categories, which saw a 30% jump, were next.
An increasing number of cities moved to Flipkart for their grocery needs. The company saw a 2.3x increase in new customers using the platform, with cities hopping for groceries more than doubling to almost 1,700. Of this, Tier-2 and beyond accounted for 70%.
Amazon launches live-stream feature
Amazon on Friday launched its live commerce feature in the country, a week into its festive sale. The Amazon Live feature will allow customers to directly interact with content creators who showcase products, answer customer questions in real-time, run polls and offer limited-duration deals too. The company said it will run 15 live streams every day from 10 am to 1 am with more than 150 content creators streaming live during the ongoing Amazon Great Indian Festival, which runs till Diwali.
This model will compete with Flipkart-owned Myntra, which has a similar set-up for customers to interact with their favourite content creators.
“With Amazon Live launch, we want to make the shopping experience exciting and meaningful for our customers, while allowing brands to have a deeper engagement that resonates with today’s savvy shoppers. The launch comes at an opportune time for customers seeking to shop during the ongoing Amazon Great Indian Festival. Through Amazon Live, Amazon India aims to connect the influencers with customers at scale, enabling them to make informed purchases,” said Kishore Thota, director, customer experience and marketing, Amazon India.
