Black Friday sale in India: Beauty, home, travel, fashion lead the charge
D2C brands and ecommerce marketplaces experienced double-digit growth in both volume and value during the Black Friday sale, as companies found an opportunity to clear out inventories.
Key Takeaways
- The 2024 Black Friday sales in India saw a 24% increase in GMV compared with last year, with the sale contributing significantly to November's overall GMV.
- The popular categories during Black Friday sales included beauty and wellness products (34% YoY growth), fashion and apparel (especially men's clothing and winter wear), electronics and mobile phones, and home decor (40% YoY growth).
- Quick commerce platforms launched their first Black Friday sales and reported a growth of 15% to business as usual.
The Black Friday sales phenomenon, which has traditionally been a US staple and fuels the shopping frenzy around the Thanksgiving weekend, is spilling over to India as well. Along with the Cyber Monday sale, it has become an important part of India’s cycle of ecommerce sale events and gives brands a fillip between the festive season and end-of-the-year sales.
During the sales held from November 27-30, the gross merchandise value (GMV) across brands grew by 24% compared to the Black Friday event held last year, according to data shared by ecommerce enablement platform Unicommerce.
A fifth of November’s total GMV came from Black Friday sale weekend, based on ecommerce enabler GoKwik's survey of 10,000 brands on its network.
“Black Friday this year has become a significant event for ecommerce brands in India, catching up in scale and enthusiasm to its US counterpart”, said Chirag Taneja, Co-founder and CEO, GoKwik in a statement.
The sale enables brands and retailers to clear their unsold inventory to make space for new stock for next year. It is also the last shopping festival before Christmas and New Year.
“November-end in India is a great time to run a sale event as it follows the slump in consumption post the major festive season ending in Diwali. Brands have understood the shopper sentiment, and the kinds of deals that motivate them, and have successfully revived demand through this sale period. In the next few years, we have the potential to become the second largest market for black Friday sale period after the US,” noted Taneja.
“The D2C industry has seen an impressive average year-over-year growth of around 30%, with Shadowfax outperforming this trend by achieving a remarkable 200% growth,” Praharsh Chandra, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at Shadowfax, noted in a statement.
Warehousing and third-party logistics player Emiza flagged a significant upward trend during Black Friday sales, with business-as-usual volumes experiencing a two-fold increase.
As per Unicommerce data, beauty, wellness and personal care products grew 34% YoY, mainly driven by demand for perfumes, deodorants, and makeup items.
“Beauty products have gained significant traction, largely due to the ongoing wedding season in India,” stated Swati Bhargava, Co-founder of CashKaro and EarnKaro.
Beauty and personal care products, which usually feature high discounts, registered a 2X increase in GMV compared to the weekend prior. Moreover, the average order value for the category increased by 26%, according to GoKwik.
“Black Friday 2024 has shown that Indian fashion consumers are increasingly embracing this global shopping event, gravitating towards brands that are not only trend-driven but also committed to sustainable practices,” noted Ajay Rao, CEO and Founder of Emiza.
Fashion and apparel also witnessed strong demand, with men's and women's apparel collectively driving 54% of sales and the majority contribution coming from men’s clothing, noted Bhargava.
D2C women’s fashion startup FableStreet witnessed 4X growth over last year during its Black Friday sale, with strong movement in its top sellers and winter merchandise, according to Ayushi Gudwani, Founder and CEO at FableStreet.
With the onset of the winter season, winter wear has been popular among customers across the country, alongside travel accessories which have witnessed a surge in demand, noted a Myntra spokesperson.
Travel accessories and merchandise have seen strong demand, indicating people might be gearing up for vacation during the upcoming new year.
Fashion and accessories recorded an over 20% YoY increase in ecommerce order volumes this season, where categories like kids apparel, travel accessories, and toys and baby products received strong traction. The average order value for the category also increased by 25%, according to Unicommerce.
Average order values for laptops and computers also increased by 25% during the sale event. For GoKwik, electronics witnessed a 23% uplift after seeing strong growth during the festive season sales near Diwali.
Mobile phones and electronics emerged as top performers, contributing a significant 66% to the total sales, with mobile phones alone accounting for 49% according to CashKaro’s Bhargava.
The home decor category witnessed a 40% YoY growth in order volume during the year led by decorative items and furnishing products, notedUnicommerce.
This year also marked the first time quick commerce platforms like Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto held Black Friday sales.
“Quick commerce grew by 15% compared to a typical weekend. As Shadowfax is the primary partner for all q-commerce clients, it experienced similar growth at the platform level,” noted Chandra.
Payment patterns witnessed a shift during the Black Friday sales, with cash-on-delivery GMV increasing from 46% during the Diwali sale period to 65% last week. While credit-based payment witnessed a slight dip, preference for UPI payments remained stable, according to GoKwik.
Edited by Kanishk Singh