Walmart-owned Flipkart on Monday said it is witnessing strong demand from tier-II and III cities for products such as mobile phones and large appliances in its ongoing festive sales.
“This Big Billion Days, we witnessed the growing appetite of Bharat (tier II and III cities) for mobiles, large appliances and consumer electronics,” Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group said in a statement.
As consumers from these cities upgrade, they are coming at par with the metros showcasing unique needs and spending patterns across these categories, he added.
“With more first-time shoppers from small towns than ever before and tens of thousands of small sellers across India already seeing success, we are excited by how India loves Amazon’s commitment to offer largest selection, great convenience and exceptional value to its customers,” Manish Tiwary, Vice-President (Category Management), Amazon India was quoted by PTI as saying.
According to a PTI report: Both companies, however, remained mum on the total business generated so far in the sale. The ongoing sale is to close on October 4.
While there have been concerns around slowdown in demand in some quarters, both Amazon.in and Flipkart have been upbeat about clocking strong growth in the festive sales.
According to Redseer, overall e-tailing expected to clock gross sales of US$ 3.7 billion (Rs 24,000 crore) between September 29 to October 4, a year-on-year (y-o-y) growth of 60-65 percent.
Total online shoppers during the event expected to be 32 million, up 60 percent y-o-y, primarily driven by shoppers from tier-II and III cities, it added.
E-commerce companies, which see a large chunk of their sales during the festive season, start preparing for festive sales months in advance ramping up logistics and hiring thousands of temporary workers to ensure timely delivery of products. Other players such as Snapdeal and Club Factory are also running festive sale on their platforms.
Flipkart said the electronics category on its platform witnessed a growth of over 70 percent from tier-II cities, with a 100 percent increase in women shoppers from smaller towns.
