Discounts galore as online sales begin, most business generation expected from Tier I & II cities

By Reya Mehrotra

The virtual marketplace is bustling with offers and discounts. With the start of The Amazon Great Indian Festival, Myntra’s Big Fashion Festival, Flipkart’s Big Billion Days Sale, this year, small and medium businesses are looking to pick-up through online mediums like Amazon Karigar & Flipkart Samarth that enables craftsmen to have a wider approach.

To encourage festive shopping, in a first, Amazon has announced a sale season lasting up to a month starting from October 17 contrary to the usual 5-6 days of sale while Flipkart would stick to its 5-day sale festival ending October 21. It has also incorporated SME sellers from 20000 local shops to help them generate business. A big reason for this was the surge in online orders. The Festive Shopping Index 2020 by the Retailers Association of India (RAI) and LitmusWorld released in October highlights that 80% of Indian consumers are looking forward to festive shopping with 75% shopping online, 66% considering shopping in stand-alone stores and only 37% considering malls reflecting the rise of omnichannel shopping. While online is the primary mode of discovery, consumers are looking forward to purchasing at physical stores. The shift is also likely to create seasonal small-scale jobs across online mediums.

Healthcare and hygiene products flooded the markets ever since the lockdown was imposed. Hand sanitisers, cleaners, immunity boosters flew off the shelves. According to a report published in The Week in April this year, hygiene products, followed by work from home essentials and home appliances were the top purchases this year.

With continuing trends, big offers have been introduced by e-commerce websites on such products. Growing demands for home appliances and devices has also led electronics and smartphone companies come up with lucrative deals. For Amazon and Flipkart festivals, Samsung has launched new deals and products on its range of storage devices and more. “With work from home being a large part of the new normal, there has been a spike in demand of storage devices.
We are confident that our festive offers will make our consumers’ life easier and add more joy to the festivities,” Akash Saxenaa, senior director, enterprise sales, Samsung India says.

Following the trend, Amazon India has predicted that mid-range smart phones priced between Rs 15000 to Rs 25000 could sell like hot cakes during sales and Samsung, One Plus and Xiaomi could emerge as the top winners. No doubt, phone brands are expediting the launches of their newest versions. Oppo announced the launch of its bestselling A series – A15 in the market enabled with an AI triple camera and a large screen.

Apart from these, gifting options, festive wear and skincare products will be added to the shopping list during the festive months. Ayyappan Rajagopal, head of business, Myntra believes that ethnic wear is expected to be among the best-selling products during the festive and wedding period but there will be a large focus on ‘above the waist’ looks, which is reflective of the virtual nature of social events and celebrations this festive season.

Expecting good sales, the brand has also prepared for handling increase in traffic, scaled to process 20,000 orders per minute at peak, during the seven-day event.

The most business generation is expected from Tier I & II cities. Organic skin and hair care brand Juicy Chemistry is positive for the rise in demand for its products from cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad while mattress brand Fresh Up Mattresses expects good business from Tier 1 & 2 cities for the high end products.