Following an unstable first three quarters of the year CY23, online sellers expect at least a 15 per cent jump in festive sales year over year (the median sales jump expected is 26 per cent), according to Redseer.

Despite modest sales growth on e-commerce platforms recently (only 40 per cent of the surveyed sellers reported more than a 10 per cent increase in current quarter sales compared to the JFM 23 quarter), anticipation for a festive sales boost amongst the sellers is high across categories.

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Sellers across the categories, including in the lower ASP ones like fashion, are bullish about this growth trajectory, which should provide a respite in this otherwise challenging macro-environment.

Moreover, e-commerce platforms are tailoring solutions to meet the optimism of sellers, and as a consequence of this, seller perceptions around support provided by eTailing platforms have seen an uptick, with 62 per cent of sellers agreeing with the sentiment that the platforms have been supportive in their festive planning compared to 53 per cent of sellers who observed this in the lead-up to last year’s festive season.

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In addition, sellers are willing to spend more on marketing and advertising during the holiday season on online platforms to drive sales growth. Overall, across the surveyed sellers, they anticipate 15 per cent spending growth compared to last year’s festive season and 50 per cent ad spending growth compared to business as usual (BAU) periods of this year.

Even smaller sellers show an increased willingness to spend on ads and are bullish on overall sales growth; smaller sellers anticipate 22 per cent ad spend growth compared to the last festive season and 75 per cent growth vs. the BAU period of this year, per our surveys.

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“The festive period is expected to enable sellers, especially the smaller ones, to come out of the challenging sales environment seen through this, and sellers are optimistic of strong sales growth. In the longer term, more and more sellers will continue to benefit from eCommerce growth given its strong positive impact on seller topline and bottom line that emerges from our research,” said Mrigank Gutgutia, Partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants.

The survey was conducted with a few hundred sellers (primarily the smaller sellers) prior to the festive sales in 2023.

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