Mobiles drive festive sales, says report

The festive season sales ahead of Navratri are a centerpiece event for India's e-commerce firms Flipkart, Amazon, Meesho, and others. The first four days of the sale this year, e-commerce platforms sold 1,100 mobile phones per minute, with total sales of Rs 11,000 crore from the category, according to a report by consulting firm RedSeer.

In 4 days, about 60 -- 70 lakh mobiles were sold, and the category recorded a 10 x growth in Gross Merchandise Volume GMV to drive a lion's share of e-commerce sales. Mobiles are able to do well, due to upgrade programmes and new launches supported by value offers. In its report, RedSeer stated that premium phones such as the iPhone 12, 13, and OnePlus drove mobile sales on large e-commerce platforms.

The fashion category saw a 4.5 x jump in the day's average GMV to Rs 5,500 Cr worth of sales in four days, but was not left behind by the fact that it saw a 4.5 x jump in the daily average GMV to reach Rs 5,500 Cr worth of sales in four days. According to the report, fashion continues on its growth journey fuelled by the consumer need for wardrobe improvement. It added that there is a growth wave in Tier 2 cities, driven by adoption of new commerce and curated offerings for the targeted customer.

The average GMV for e-commerce portals jumped by 5.4 x during the festive sale period, with roughly 50 -- 55 million online shoppers from across the country making purchases. E-commerce platforms have a record sales of Rs 24,500 crore or $3.5 billion and contributed to 60 per cent of the projected GMV for the festive sale.

RedSeer stated that the first four days of the previous year contributed to 59 per cent, signalling a better than anticipated kickoff to the festive season this year.

The first round of festive sales included Flipkart's Big Billion Day Sale Amazon's Great Indian Festival Meesho s Mega Blockbuster Sale and other seasonal sales on fashion commerce platforms like Nykaa, Myntra and Ajio. Typically, e-commerce marketplaces hold up to three rounds of sales leading to Diwali. The first of these sales accounts for more than 50 per cent of sales during the festive period, according to Sanjay Kothari, Associate Partner, RedSeer.

There were 34 cr total orders.