Now ShopClues, Paytm Mall announce festive sales to vie with Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal

Amid increasing festive season clout of e-commerce biggies Amazon and Flipkart, smaller rivals Paytm Mall and ShopClues are also looking to have a share of consumer spending in the coming days. Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s Paytm Mall and Singapore-based e-commerce platform Qoo10-owned ShopClues on Thursday announced dates for their 2020 festive season sales – Maha Shopping Festival and Mega Maha Bharat Sale respectively. While Paytm Mall has picked October 16-23 for its festive sale, ShopClues’ sale will be live between October 15-21. Moreover, Snapdeal’s Kum Mein Dum Diwali sale will be hosted from October 16 till October 20.

“Indian festivals and weddings call for local, ‘Made in India’ products and we’ve really upped the game through some key strategic partnerships with our local vendors who’ve brought to the platform an array of diverse and exciting festive products,” said Sanjay Sethi, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, ShopClues in a statement. Focused on value-conscious buyers, ShopClues claimed to “work through 700,000+ merchants that service over 60 million lifetime unique customers.”

Covid-induced online adoption will be driving the rise of internet shoppers this festive season. According to a RedSeer analysis, there would be around 70 per cent increase in online shoppers to 45-50 million during October sale this year from 28 million last year’s. The gross merchandise value for marketplaces during the October sale would also grow more than 50 per cent from $2.7 billion last year to $4 billion this year.

Also read: Ditching marketplaces? E-shoppers, sellers transact more on brands’ own websites than e-retailers

Paytm Mall said that this year’s sale focusing on MSMEs “would be bigger than ever with over 5,500 brands participating in the event.” Over the past several months, the company said it saw more than 2X growth in sales in segments such as groceries, consumer durables, work from home essentials, grooming electronics, toys, kidswear etc.

Meanwhile, Amazon and Flipkart continue to announce developments almost on a daily basis for their respective sales. Sharing deals preview on Thursday, Amazon would offer up to 40 per cent off on the smartphones, up to 75 per cent discount on home appliances and TVs; up to 80 per cent off on Amazon Fashion and Home & Kitchen products and more during its month-long sale starting October 17. Also, there would over 6,000 deals on consumer electronics and accessories. The company is also offering daily shopping rewards worth Rs 500 using Amazon Pay UPI. Flipkart, on the other hand, on Thursday said that it has tied-up with over 100 brands this festive season to onboard their products across 2,000 fashion stores. Brands would be able to showcase their products to customers in near-by pin codes for visibility to a wider selection.