Flipkart captures 51% market share in festive sale, says report

In the recently concluded 5-day festive season sale, Flipkart captured highest market share at 51 per cent, driven by sales in mobiles and fashion categories. Amazon's market share for the same period stood at 32 per cent, with the rest of the e-commerce industry accounting for 17 per cent, reveals a report from RedSeer Consulting, a research and advisory firm focused on the consumer internet market.

“E-tailers generated their highest ever sale performance over the five festive days generating Rs 15,000 crore in GMV or $2.3 billion in sales (at $1=Rs 65) compared to $1.4 billion generated in 2017 sale, registering a year-on-year growth of 64 per cent. Flipkart accounted for more than half of the GMV for the entire industry. Between just Flipkart and Amazon, the share is 62 per cent and 38 per cent respectively” said Ujjwal Chaudhry, Engagement Manager, RedSeer Consulting. A week before the festive sale began, RedSeer had forecast sales of $2.5 - $3 bn for the industry.

Despite large investments by both Flipkart and Amazon in supply chain and affordability initiatives like debit card EMIs, Consumer Electronics lagged behind expectations and grew by only 45 per cent, while fashion and smartphone categories grew by 78 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.

The second day of the five-day festive sale was the biggest in terms of GMV as it saw the launch of multiple new exclusives in mobile phones and offers on other platforms as well. After the second day, GMV growth slowed down a bit with the last three days of the sale accounting for only 42 per cent of sales compared to 60 per cent in the first two days. Last year's GMV for the entire sale period was surpassed by the end of the second day.

“Sixty four per cent growth compared to last year bodes well for the industry. Mobiles and Consumer Electronics continue to account for more than 75 per cent of festive sales. This year saw higher participation by fashion shoppers which made it the fastest growing vertical” observed Chaudhry.

However, Flipkart's CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, in a statement said “We have recorded over 70 per cent share of the entire Indian e-commerce market, matching the scale of global marquee retail events. We pushed the boundaries on many fronts and hit some of our biggest-ever numbers. From selling 1 million mobile phones in the first hour of sale to establishing Flipkart as India’s fashion hub, we demonstrated our position as market leader with no clear competition.”

Amit Agarwal, Senior Vice President and Country Head, Amazon India said “We have received an overwhelming response to the fifth Great Indian Festival, with sales in the first 36 hours nearly surpassing entire first wave last year and the event exceeding our most aggressive plans across all categories. With 3x times surge in Prime member sign-ups across the country, more than 80 per cent of new customers coming from small towns and orders from 99 per cent of serviceable pin-codes in just 4 days, we are humbled that Amazon.in is trusted by India to find, discover, and buy anything online.”

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