This year's commercial campaign leading up to Diwali, the major Hindu festival of lights, saw e-commerce booming. NNA, which distributes Asian economic information, summarized the moves of various e-commerce companies.
Dubbed "India's First Online Diwali," Flipkart, the country's largest online retailer, held a massive sale called "Big Billion Day" on the final day of the four-day weekend spanning October 3-6. Promising "up to 90% off," total transaction value reached $100 million within just 10 hours of sales starting at 8 AM.
On the sale day, the site saw over 1 billion visits, and downloads of its free smartphone app exceeded 1 million. Over 2 million items were sold that day alone. A company spokesperson stated, "Mobile phones and apparel/accessories accounted for 50% of purchases, each selling 500,000 units. About 10 sellers (wholesalers) achieved their annual customer and sales targets in just one day."
Amazon India held a month-long sale starting September 21. From October 4th to 6th, it held a "Mission to Mars" sale celebrating India's Mars probe reaching orbit. Sales volume during the 5th and 6th alone jumped to 2.5 times the usual level. Ahead of Diwali, it also held "Diwali Dhamaka Week" from October 10th to 16th, capitalizing on increased gift purchases.
Snapdeal, India's second-largest e-commerce platform, also launched a similar "Diwali Bumper Sale" starting in September. It boosted sales across a wide range of products including electronics, home appliances, clothing/miscellaneous goods, jewelry, and car tires.
According to U.S. research firm CB Insights, India's e-commerce market has expanded 2.3-fold over the past two years to $2.3 billion. The share of e-commerce companies within the broader IT sector is estimated to have reached 72% as of last year.
