Brands like OnePlus take a leaf off e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon with their own flash sales

While Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Paytm and Shopclues are battling it out this festive season, brands like OnePlus aren’t too far behind the race of discounting and customer acquisition.

The Chinese phone maker OnePlus announced its Diwali Dash Sale on its e-commerce platform, oneplusstore.in. The sale will run between October 24 and October 26, with ‘mystery boxes’ for Re 1 on offer. The flash sales will be conducted at 12 pm, 4pm, and 8pm IST on all three days. Users need to register on the platform for the Diwali Dash Sale before the dates.

The contents will be revealed only after the packages have been opened. The surprise gifts range from OnePlus 3 smartphones to accessories. Every OnePlus account is eligible for a single mystery box only.

And this just isn’t the case for OnePlus, even Xiaomi has a Diwali sale on, which today is in its last day. LeEco is holding the 'LeMall for All' sale between October 18 and 20, during which the company will offer discounts and deals on smartphones, TVs, and accessories.

According to Criteo’s survey, the Diwali period in the previous year saw an upsurge in average visitors on key Indian retailers’ websites, leading to an increase in the average sales of e-commerce companies. The biggest category during the sale was TV and mobile.

Apart from this, it also is the best time to penetrate deeper into the Indian market. Pete Lau, Co-founder and CEO, OnePlus, last year also told YourStory:

India is one of the most important markets for OnePlus. Last December, we entered India and we found there are so many OnePlus fans already in India. That was much more than we expected. Next year, India will be the biggest market in the world. So it is very important.

Also, Mohit Gulati, Investor, Founder Altius Venture, believes that Diwali is the time of the year when you buy things that you normally wouldn’t have bought. Flash sales are advantageous for people who have been waiting to buy something they have aspired for through the year. The spending on high-ticket items like cars are on the wait-list this season.

“Look at Diwali as the Indian equivalent of the western world’s Cyber Monday, Boxing Day and Christmas sale. It is the time when people come out and shop more, be it online or offline. Brands are beginning to realise this and are trying to capitalise this time of the year,” says Mohit.