The recently concluded Black Friday sale, for direct-to consumer or D 2 C brands, emerged as a bigger opportunity than the annual Diwali and Dusshera in terms of sales.
According to GoKwik, India's largest e-commerce enabler, brands saw a 63 per cent increase in gross merchandise value or GMV in just three days compared to the 10 day Diwali sale.
Black Friday sales were 43 per cent higher than the pre-Dusshera sale. More than half 51 per cent of the merchants in the GoKwik network saw a 30 per cent increase in orders with electronics as a category that attracted the bulk of the demand.
The ecommerce enabler, which works with over 500 ecommerce players and D 2 C brands, also found that Tier 2 3 towns contributed a whopping 75 per cent to the overall sales over the Black Friday weekend.
Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year in the United States and falls on Friday after Thanksgiving, which traditionally marks the beginning of the Christmas celebrations.
The advent of online shopping in India along with the rise in consumerism is making Black Friday sale increasingly popular among Indian shoppers, and retailers typically offer huge discounts on products during Black Friday sales.
The massive growth in sales during the Black Friday weekend suggests that consumer sentiments in India look very promising and are devoid of any signs of a slowdown or pessimism regarding the looming global recession, said Chirag Taneja, Co-founder, GoKwik, Co-founder, Chirag Taneja, Co-founder, GoKwik, Co-founder and CEO, Chirag Taneja, Co-founder, Chirag Taneja, Co-founder, GoKwik
He said that the majority of orders are coming from Tier 2 C cities consistently, whether during Black Friday or Diwali this year. D 2 C has found its niche timing to drive sales. GoKwik, founded by Taneja in 2020, helps solve problems that ecommerce brands face through the shopping experience, including abandoning cart recovery, boosting gross merchandise value, and reducing returns to origin RTO. The start-up has helped brands reduce RTO by 30 per cent and improve conversion rates by over 35 per cent, along with Ankush Talwar and Vivek Bajpai.
GoKwik, which has well-known brands like Limeroad, Mama Earth, Man Matters, Boat, The Man Company, Neeman's, Lenskart, and Shoppers Stop, amongst others, has over 80 million shoppers on its network.
It recently announced that it has successfully processed over $1 billion worth of orders in its network and has seen a 520 per cent increase in transactions year-on-year.