These 4 ecommerce websites are gearing up for the much-awaited Diwali shopping this festive season

The festive season brings cheer and is a much-awaited period for most businesses. With an improvement in internet penetration and the ongoing pandemic making online shopping the new normal across India, ecommerce companies are seeing new consumers emerge from Tier II and III cities and beyond. 

According to the internet research firm RedSeer Consulting and Unicommerce, shoppers from these cities, towns, and regions will be the top contributors to online sales during this year’s festive season. 

By infusing capital to create new job opportunities and launching fulfilment centres, big ecommerce players like Amazon, Flipkart,Snapdeal, and Myntra are all geared up to handle the increased traffic for the festive season. 

A report by RedSeer in September suggested that various ecommerce and logistics companies are expected to create about three lakh jobs, of which about 70 percent are expected to be offered by online platforms like Amazon and Flipkart.

YourStory list four such websites and what customers can expect from these sites during the festive season.

Flipkart

The annual festive sale of Flipkart, The Big Billion Days (BBD), will commence from October 16 and continue till October 21.

The six-day event will see offers from a wide range of products such as mobile, TVs and appliances, electronics and accessories, fashion, beauty, food, toys, baby care, home and kitchen, furniture, grocery and more.

Flipkart said BBD was expected to generate employment opportunities, with over 70,000 direct jobs and lakhs of seasonal jobs.

“This festive event continues to focus on Flipkart’s commitment to providing value for consumers, opportunities for growth for MSMEs and sellers, and employment generation through ecommerce,” said Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group. 

This year, the ecommerce major has also partnered with Paytm to offer assured cashback to consumers, even though it has its own payment platform – PhonePe.

In September, Walmart-owned Flipkart announced its partnership with Max Fashion, a move that will help the ecommerce major offer an expanded portfolio of apparel and accessories to customers ahead of the festive season.

Flipkart will offer more than 13,000 new styles from Max Fashion, a brand under the banner of Dubai-based Landmark Group. The majority of these products will fall under Rs 1,000 price point, a statement said.

The ecommerce platforms have tied up with various popular brands for launches during the Big Billion Days. Google Pixel products and accessories will be exclusively available on Flipkart during the Big Billion Days sale. Flipkart has also partnered with Nokia to make a wide range of smart TVs available during the BBD sale.

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Myntra

Myntra, the fashion apparel marketplace of the Flipkart Group, will hold its ‘Big Fashion Festival’ from October 16 to 22. 

According to a statement from Myntra, it will offer nine lakh styles from a collection of over 5,000 brands during the festive sale. Given its marketing campaign, the sale is expected to reach over 150 million people across India, with demand at 4X over business as usual (BAU). It is expected that 50 percent of the contribution will be coming from Tier-II and III markets.

The apparel category on Myntra is slated to contribute over 70 percent of the festive demand on the platform, with other key categories being kids wear, footwear, home, and personal care and accessories.

Over 45 celebrities and 80+ influencers have been engaged to harness the reach of Myntra Studio and social media platforms to drive customer engagement, it said in a release.

The platform has also integrated over 1,000 stores from close to 100 brands on its platform so far, to ensure that customers get their orders delivered to their doorstep in the shortest possible time.

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Amazon

Amazon’s flagship online shopping event – Great Indian Festival — will begin from October 17. While the event’s concluding date is yet to be revealed, the sale is planned to go on for the month. 

Manish Tiwary, Vice President, Amazon had confirmed during the virtual press conference, “It is a season of festivities. So, it will be a month-long celebration of festivities. Our sellers are putting together things attractive to various regions.”

More than 20,000 offline retailers, kiranas, and local shops from ‘Local Shops on Amazon’ programme will participate in the Great Indian Festival for the first time, selling various items like daily essentials, large appliances, and home decor products.

According to Amazon, this year’s event will see participation from lakhs of small and medium businesses, with the event showcasing over four crore products from 20,000 local shops across 100 cities.

Like its competitor – Flipkart, Amazon will also have some exclusive launch and sale on its platform.

Amazon’s newly launched echo products including the Echo Dot, Echo Dot with clock, Amazon Echo, the Fire TV Stick, and Fire TV Stick Lite with Alexa Voice Remote Lite will be exclusively available on Amazon and will go on sale during the Great Indian Festival.

OnePlus is all set to unveil its next premium smartphone, the OnePlus 8T, in India on October 14. The smartphone will be exclusively available on Amazon and will be sold during the Amazon Great Indian Festival sale.

Amazon is offering instant discounts and finance options, including the 10 percent instant bank discount on HDFC Bank debit and credit cards. The ecommerce major is also offering no-cost EMI on debit and credit cards, and payments via Bajaj FinServ. Additionally, the e-retailer is offering exchange offers and other exciting offers on payments made via various credit and debit cards.

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Snapdeal

Value-focused ecommerce marketplace Snapdeal has also come up with its festive season sale – ‘Kum Mein Dum'. The Snapdeal Diwali sale will take place between October 16 and October 20. 

Snapdeal's 'Kum Me Dum' sale selection is built around the choices indicated by more than 1.25 lakh participants from across 92 cities.

The online marketplace has more than five lakh registered sellers with over 220 million product listings.  It added over 10,000 sellers in the last three months to increase its inventory of value-priced merchandise. The homegrown marketplace had added over 5,000 manufacturer-sellers on its platform so far this year, most of them in the September quarter. Snapdeal allows manufacturer-sellers to ship directly to buyers, circumventing warehouses and solving for stocks which get stuck with online platforms.

Ahead of its festive sales push, Snapdeal recently opened 25 logistics centres in major metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, as well in small towns like Surat, Jaipur, Panipat, Gurugram, Bahadurgarh, Yamuna Nagar, Rajkot, Bhiwandi, Agra, Noida, and Mathura.

Snapdeal is also introducing ‘Diwali@Home' range that includes smart solutions for making snacks, savouries, and sweets at home. Additional attention is being given to lights, decor, fragrances, and furnishings. The platform will also launch themed e-stores for occasions including Navratri, Karva Chauth, Dhanteras, among others, to ease festive shopping.

(With inputs from Thimmaya Poojary and Sindhu Kashyaap)