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One sector surely has bucked the slowdown seen during the festival season. Indian e-commerce retailers have witnessed a whopping 50-60 per cent jump in revenues this Diwali compared to last year.
Recent studies by Ebay, Google, coupon site Cashkaro and others say that more consumers will shop online this festival season for greater variety, deals and convenience. According to the studies, people prefer online shopping in order to avoid crowded markets, long queues at billing desks and traffic jams during festivals. Besides, online financial transactions have gained trust. Vikas Ahuja, Chief Marketing Officer at fashion portal Myntra, said: “We have not seen any slowdown in the e-commerce space this year. We have seen a 35-50 per cent jump in traffic during this festive season along with increase in the basket size.”
Most of the e-tailers Business Line spoke to said the average spending per family per transaction this Diwali was Rs 25,000. This is up 30 per cent against last year.
Similar was the sentiment at Flipkart, the country’s largest e-commerce site. “Our performance has exceeded our expectations,” said Ravi Vora, Senior VP (Marketing). While he declined to give any numbers, analysts estimated its sales to have almost doubled.
Pepperfry.com witnessed a sharp increase in sales of home products. “We saw traffic move up in the last 10 days of October,” said its CMO Kashyap Vadapalli. People tend to redo their homes during Diwali and hence the spike. He said consumer interest in buying online home products is increasing. The portal hosts over 35,000 items in the furniture, furnishings, decor and kitchen segments.
According to Homeshop18, the ethnic wear and accessories segment has doubled against last year. Men’s accessories grew eight times. Small towns added to the volume by almost 100 times due to increased penetration of smartphones and growing awareness on fashion trends, thanks to television and multiplexes. Chaitanya Aggarwal, Founder, Juvalia & You, said the online fashion jewellery store offered special combos and e-discount coupons.
Meanwhile, gold jewellery and consumer durables got impacted due to volatile prices and a ban on zero per cent EMI schemes, respectively. Addimon, an online jewellery portal, said there was a ‘mere’ 15 per cent growth but it is expected to pick up in the wedding season, which is around the corner.
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