Fashion fest: Indian e-commerce lit up by Diwali sales
Diwali brought cheers to Indian e-commerce industry as sales of fashion, home & lifestyle and electronics went north. Tier II & III cities too pitched in
If the gold fetish Indians ditched the yellow metal this Diwali festival, consumers brought cheer home downscaling to apparels, cars and consumer electronics. As websites start revealing numbers, it’s official that the phenomenon got extended to e-commerce industry too. But if eBay is to believed, rush for gold coins was apparent online.
The Categorical Growth
According to statistics by Junglee.com, an online apparel store, fashion as a segment witnessed maximum growth. The category grew by 380 per cent as compared to last Diwali and collectively comprised 42 per cent of the overall demand – making it the single largest category group. Followed by fashion was the home and lifestyle segment, which witnessed a growth of 245 per cent as compared to same period last year. India’s festive season starts around end of july and continues up to mid-November. Consumer electronics follows closely with 186 per cent and also contributed to 40 per cent of overall demand at Junglee.com.
The Brand Speak
As brands battle it out on television, radio and social media, there are a few clear winners who dominated consumer demands this festive season. According to statistics provided by ShopClues.com, the 10 most popular brands this year include Reebok, Samsung, Puma, Micromax, Pigeon, Gillete, Sony, Sandisk, Axe and Bombay Dyeing. While some of these brands were most popular last year as well, some seemed to be replaced.
The data by Junglee.com suggests that Nokia managed to supplant BlackBerry which was one of the most popular brands last year. In terms of mobile phones, Google Nexus 4, Nokia Lumia 250 and Samsung Galaxy Grand topped the popularity charts. Google Nexus also managed to be the preference category among tablet PCs.
See trends from ShopClues below:
As the tortoise takes over…
When e-commerce started rooting in India, it was often said that it was a metro phenomenon, which will not pick up in Tier II and III markets. However, recent numbers in terms of internet usage and shopping from online portals display startling results. According to data from ShopClues.com, amongst the top 10 cities in terms of traffic along with metros like Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai are Tier II cities like Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Jaipur. Mobile traffic too saw growth from Tier II cities such as Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Mohali.
Even traditions go online
While consumers are turning to online portals for their basic shopping, they are also now e-purchasing the traditional needs of the festival. Dhanteras, a day, two days ahead of Diwali, considered auspicious to buy gold and bring home new things, saw online demand for gold coins surge. If Indians didn’t buy jewellery, they downscaled to coins. According to numbers by eBay India, a gold coin was purchased every four minutes. Also, amongst the top 10 cities in terms of buying gold coins along with metros are the towns of Pune, Surat, Meerut and Jaipur. The data further suggests that consumers from 104 cities in 26 Indian states shopped online to mark the auspicious day.
It is not very long before when brands attracted consumers by advertising about ‘Ghar baithe jeeto inaam’ (Win prizes while sitting at home). Little did they know that the booming e-commerce sector would make the privilege of getting goodies while sitting at home into a trend one day.
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