The e-commerce festive season sales are off to a strong start. E-commerce order volumes grew by 20 per cent during the first four days of the festive season sale in 2024 (26-29 September) compared to the first four days of the festive season sales last year (7-10 October 2023), according to e-commerce tech firm Unicommerce. In the same period, the gross merchandise value (GMV) also increased by 24 per cent over last year.
Unicommerce, an e-commerce enablement SaaS platform, analysed over 1.3 million order items processed through its platform during the initial days of the sale to assess the trends for this year.
“Festive season sales have become an exciting phase of the year when everyone awaits the attractive offers and the extensive variety of products,” said Kapil Makhija, MD and CEO of Unicommerce. “While this continues as a trend year after year, we see an increasing number of brands participating in the sale season, affirming India’s status as a digitally forward country.”
Some of the product categories that observed notable increases in volumes include fashion and accessories, with over 32 per cent growth, driven by high demand for products like travel accessories, watches, and kids’ apparel. Makeup products witnessed an impressive 54 per cent year-on-year growth during this festive sale. The health and pharma segment, which clocked a sizable 33 per cent growth in volumes over last year, saw nutraceuticals and fitness supplements as the most demanded products in the category.
Despite only a marginal increase in volumes, the home decor category reported an impressive 50 per cent increase in GMV over last year. This shows significant growth in consumer appetite for higher-value purchases across the home decor and furnishings segment.
Other products that witnessed high demand during this period include phone accessories, books, sports and fitness products, and healthy snacks.
The increase in both volumes and value highlights a robust start to the season’s sales, with many more days of festive season sales lined up in October 2024 to mark Navratri, Dussehra, Karva Chauth, Diwali, Bhaiya Dooj, and other festivities.
The Amazon Great Indian Festival (AGIF), which started on 27 September with 24-hour early access for Prime members, has seen the biggest ever opening for its sellers and brand partners on Amazon. The company said the first 48 hours of AGIF 2024 have been the best ever, with nearly 11 crore customer visits and over 8,000 sellers surpassing Rs 1 lakh in sales. Customers got access to more than 25,000 new product launches across categories such as laptops, TVs, fashion and beauty, home decor, appliances, furniture, smartphones, and groceries from top brands.
E-commerce firm Myntra is also hosting the Big Fashion Festival. With 120 million visitors during Early Access and Day 1, Myntra witnessed customers exhibiting high shopping intensity across core fashion and emerging categories. At the kick-off of the sale event, Myntra witnessed 15X new users over business-as-usual (BAU) joining the platform and a 2X spike in OPM (orders per minute) at peak compared to last year, in the opening hour of the event.
E-commerce firm Flipkart recorded 33 crore user visits during Early Access and Day 1 combined, during the 11th edition of the company’s The Big Billion Days (TBBD) 2024 sale event. The BBD was held on 27 September, with early access beginning on 26 September for Flipkart VIP and Plus customers.
First Published: Oct 01 2024 | 5:34 PM IST
