Amazon, Flipkart gear up for festive season, steepest discount of 2019 expected

Ahead of the festive season, e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart are locking horns to cash in the festive season buying by the Indian consumers. Several fashion brands, electronics, and smartphones have said festive season orders from Amazon and Flipkart has jumped as high as 80 per cent in contrast to last year.

Financial daily, The Economic Times reported that major e-commerce companies are expecting a revival of consumer spending during the Navratri-Diwali period. As per senior industry executives, festive orders have increased more than two-three times for online-focused brands. They also believe that the marketplaces are projecting a jump of more than 40 per cent in consumer traffic during the festive season. Much of these are expected to be converted into actual sales.

'Brace yourself for steepest discounts of the year'

Two highly placed executives said consumers can expect some of the biggest discounts during this year's festive season sale. They have forecasted that the first major sale is expected to be started during end-September this year during Navratri. Further, the consumers can expect many of these promotions until Diwali towards the end of October.

Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth has remained bullish on sales during Diwali. The smartphone maker is expecting the sales to jump by 8-10% vis-a-vis 5-6% growth expected during all of 2019. "We expect migration from feature phones to smartphones will drive sales, while for us festive orders have doubled over last year," he added.

Independence Day sale period registered a healthy growth pertaining to online-focused electronics brands such as TCL, Kodak, Thomson and iFFalcon. Expecting a further jump in its sales during Diwali period, these brands are stocking more than twice the number of television sold last year. Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO of Super Plastronics, licensee of Thomson and Kodak said, "While Independence Day sales were good for televisions after a bad June-July boosted by discounts, consumers can look forward to the steepest discount of this year during the festive season."

It is to be noted that Smartphones, consumer electronics, and apparel share the largest chunk of sales on e-commerce sales in India with around 80 per cent of the overall business. Although online discounts have tanked post the central government tightening norms for foreign-funded online marketplaces, e-commerce's contribution to total sales is increasing. The major reason for this jump includes convenience, the wider variety available and new buyers due to deeper penetration of the internet.