Festive season may see Rs 45,000 crore online splurge

Chennai: Slowdown or not, e-commerce will have its festive splash in October. The festive month, which includes Puja and Diwali, is expected to see e-commerce sales of $7 billion, or Rs 45,000 crore. The six-day sales around Puja itself could garner sales of $3.7 billion or Rs 24,000 crore.

Bengaluru-based RedSeer Consulting said the gross sales revenue of $7 billion expected for the month would mark a 60 per cent jump, from $4.3 billion, or Rs 28,000 crore, clocked during last year’s festive month.

Included in this festive month calculation is the Puja week, which starts from September 29 and ending by October 4. The Puja week alone may see 60 to 65 per cent growth in sales to $3.7 billion, or Rs 24,000 crore, against $2.3 billion, or Rs 15,000 crore a year ago. More than 75 million gross transactions are expected over this six-day period.

Compared to usual business days, e-tailers may see a gross merchandise value (GMV) spike of 7X on these festive days against 6X last year.

As the e-commerce players gear up with offers and discounts in various products and categories, the number of shoppers making purchases is also expected to go up by 60 per cent to 32 million from 20 million last year. The growth will be primarily driven by new shoppers from smaller towns and cities.

Newer customers will get attracted to e-commerce due to a host of factors, including vernacular interface of platforms, which are breaking the accessibility barriers. Wider than ever selection across categories, attractive deals, wider than ever credit availability, promise of fast delivery driven by widest supply chain network ever, spread across smaller cities and regions are also supporting e-commerce sales in Bharat.

“Our consumer and business research and prediction modellers clearly indicate that the market is ready to grow significantly during festive days 2019 ...enabled by multiple themes that industry has been focusing and investing on vernacular, credit availability, wide selection and fast shipping. The event is likely to mark a landmark for the industry as it democratises to reach new consumer segments and new categories over next few years,” said Anil Kumar, Founder and CEO, RedSeer Consulting.

Consumer electronics and fashion are expected to drive growth this festive season and newer categories like furniture also are likely to emerge strongly. Around 40 per cent respondents want to buy consumer electronics and large appliances.   

However, willingness to buy mobiles is slightly lower than last year. Last year, mobile was the most preferred category with 29 per cent respondents wanting to buy a new one. The lower share of mobile phones will result in a small drop in average order value, which will come down from $51 in 2018 to $47 in 2019.