NE BUSINESS BUREAU
BENGALURU, OCT 5
The 8th edition of The Big Billion Days, Flipkart’s annual flagship event, started on a positive note, with early trends reflecting upbeat consumer sentiment in the country and the growth that Flipkart has enabled for MSMEs and sellers,says a senior official of the company.
Early Access for Flipkart Plus customers saw a 40% growth as compared to last year. Incidentally, ~45% of customer demand has been from tier 3 cities and beyond signaling a strong preference for high-value goods/ items. The anticipation for this festival was evident as more than 2 million customers pre-booked close to 5 million products just prior to Early Access by paying just Re.1.
Keeping with the Indian festive spirit, Flipkart has designed and disbursed ‘BBD Shagun’ (a special reward) for its customers this year. More than Rs. 2 crores have been redeemed by over 250,000 customers under this offering in the first 12 hours of Early Access. The curated offerings of “BBD Specials” continued to be a customer favourite, with over 100,000 customers placing orders for these products in the first 12 hours of Early Access.
Nandita Sinha, Vice President – Customer and Growth, Flipkart, said, “This year, TBBD has started off seeing upbeat participation by customers and sellers. E-commerce is clearly gaining increasing acceptance among the masses, and it is evident that user-friendly technical and financial constructs are helping to drive its adoption. We will continue, in the years ahead, to do what we do best – offer products that deliver the best value, and introduce features and solutions that make our platform more accessible and affordable for customers. We will expand and strengthen our ecosystem of sellers and MSMEs, enabling better income and livelihoods for millions and expand our reach across the country. We look forward to a year of prosperity and well-being for all.”
One in five customers has chosen to exchange their smartphone for a new one, with 82.60% of customers choosing to pay for their next smartphone using prepaid payment options. Apple 12 and Apple 12 Mini are currently the favourite smartphone models, accounting for most of the two-lakh Apple iPhone 12 devices sold so far. The pent-up demand for large appliances and electronics is evident from the fact that TVs are the largest-selling category in home appliances, with laptops recording top numbers in electronics. There was significant demand, too, for wireless earphones. Sales of sports shoes, outdoor wear, and men’s clothing are spiking in the fashion category – an indicator of people’s readiness to step out and indulge in outdoor activities after a year of restrictions.
Financial constructs such as Flipkart Pay Later, no-cost EMI, the Flipkart Axis Bank co-branded credit card, and others, are enabling customers to avail easy credit to make high-value purchases. Flipkart is witnessing impressive growth in the adoption of its affordable payment constructs in this edition of TBBD. The “Flipkart Pay Later” facility accounts for the second-highest share, after credit cards, in pre-paid orders. Grocery, lifestyle and home are some of the top categories where customers are using this offering the most. “Flipkart Pay Later” currently exceeds even UPI payments, and the recently launched “Flipkart Pay Later EMI” continues to see excellent customer adoption, with a 10x jump in the number of daily transacting customers since the sale started, compared to a non-sale period.
There are 124 new cities/towns from where sellers transacted in the first 24 hours; these included Hingna (Maharashtra), Baghpat (Uttar Pradesh), Attingal (Kerala), Sambhal (Uttar Pradesh) and Dewa (Uttar Pradesh), and others. Top categories for marketplace sellers are Grooming, Mobile Protection, Home Furnishing, Household and Women Ethnic Contemporary.
Flipkart has onboarded over one lakh kiranas to date for its last-mile delivery program, across the length and the breadth of the country and has significantly expanded its supply chain across the country. The new warehouses in Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and others have generated lakhs of seasonal job opportunities in supply chain roles such as sorters, pickers, packers, and delivery executives. This festive season as well, Flipkart has added 1,15,000 jobs – an increase from 50,000 jobs in 2019, and 70,000 jobs in 2020.
