Flipkart corners more than 50 pc share in India festive sale: RedSeer Consulting

Increased buying in smartphones and fashion verticals helped Walmart-backed Flipkart corner over 50 percent share during the first leg of the festive sale, according to research firm RedSeer Consulting. As per RedSeer’s latest report, Flipkart had a 51 percent share, while Amazon India had 32 percent share of the festive sale from October 9-14.

“Flipkart accounted for more than half of GMV for the entire industry. Between Flipkart and Amazon, the share was 62-38. Higher share for Flipkart was driven by higher sales in both mobiles and fashion verticals,” RedSeer said.

An Amazon spokesperson termed the report as ‘speculative’ that ‘lack robust and credible methodology’.

“We received an overwhelming response to the Great Indian festival, with first 36 hours nearly surpassing the entire first wave last year and the entire wave growing by 96 percent versus last year…the festive season so far has exceeded our most aggressive plans,” the spokesperson said.

Other players like Snapdeal, Paytm Mall and ShopClues also ran their festive offers and accounted for 17 percent share of the sales.

Flipkart in a statement said the company “pushed the boundaries on many fronts and hit some of our biggest-ever numbers during its Big Billion Days (BBD).

“We maintained a clear leadership in deep-penetrated and high ASP categories,” it added.

As per the RedSeer report, the fashion and smartphone verticals grew by 78 percent and 70 percent, respectively.

However, consumer electronics grew by only 45 percent despite large investments by both players in supply chain and affordability initiatives like debit card EMIs, it added.

RedSeer said its report is based on interview with experts from supply chain, banking ecosystem and brands, seller views, customer surveys and other research.

The report said Day 2 of the five-day sale was the biggest in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV) as it saw the launch of multiple new exclusives in mobile phones and offers on other platforms as well.

Post second day, the growth of GMV stalled a bit with last three days accounting for only 42 percent of sales compared to 60 percent in the first two days, it added.