Flipkart, Amazon Set Records Through Online Festive Sales

India's leading e-tailer Flipkart and its American rival Amazon claimed record online sales around Dusshera and Diwali festivals.

"We made a record-breaking business during the five-day sales festival on October 10-14 in diverse categories, including smartphones, electronic gadgets, home appliances, furniture and fashion," Flipkart said in a statement.

The Indian arm of Amazon also said it had record sales across categories during its great Indian festival celebration from October 10-15, with a 12-hour prime early access to its prime members.

"We had an overwhelming response to the fifth edition of the fest, with sales in the first 36 hours surpassing the first wave of last year and exceeded our plans," said the city-based Amazon.

Both have, however, admitted that maximum sales were in the smartphones category, followed by televisions, laptops, home appliances and fashion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV).

"We accounted for half of the e-tailer industry's GMV, driven by higher sales in mobiles and fashion verticals, which grew 70 per cent and 78 per cent," said Flipkart.

"Smart-phones had their biggest season, with Xiaomi selling over 1 million devices in a day followed by OnePlus with sales of Rs 400 crore in a day and premium phones sales exceeding a month of all India online sales," said Amazon India head Amit Agarwal.

On the second day of sales, Flipkart began its offers on mobiles and sold one million in the first hour, ending the day with 3 million units.

"Three-in-four mobiles bought during the fest was on Flipkart," said the Walmart-owned company.

World's retail giant Walmart on August 18 completed acquiring 77 per cent equity stake in Flipkart for a whopping $16 billion (Rs 107,662 crore).

"We recorded 70 per cent share of the e-tail market in the country to match the scale of marquee retail events and demonstrated our position as market leader," said Flipkart Chief Executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy.

Flipkart also claimed 85 per cent share of online market in fashion and 75 per cent in large appliances.

Amazon customers from 99 per cent pin codes placed an order in 4 days, with 80 per cent new customers from small towns.

"Large appliances sales in a single day for Amazon exceeded that of first wave for last festive sale; with 50 per cent sales from tier-2 and below towns," said Agarwal.

One out of 2 Flipkart shoppers used payment options like EMIs and bank offers, driving 60 per cent of its overall sales and enabling customers to upgrade products in categories like mobiles, TVs and laptops.

"Fashion has brought in 40 per cent new customers and enabled us to maintained leadership with 85 per cent share," added Krishnamurthy.

For Amazon too, fashion was the biggest category in units sold and new customers acquired, with 63 per cent orders from tier-2 and 3 cities.

"Two out of three of our customers benefited from exchange, EMIs and bank offers. New sellers who took part in the fest for the first time saw 300 per cent jump in sales, with 7,000 of them crossing the millionaire mark," noted Agarwal.