Key Points: 

  • ~INR 29,000 crores of GMV clocked in the first four days of the 2023 Festive Sale with a growth rate of 16% over the same period in 2022
  • In the first four days of the 2023 Festive Sale, average daily sales were ~6x of BAU
  • This spike in sales was led by high ASP categories like mobiles, electronics and large appliances
  • Premiumization as a theme is playing out across consumers this Festive season, led by attractive deals across high ASP items, which consumers locked in using the ‘Pre-book/Price-lock’ feature to avoid missing out on them later during the festive period, driving up Average Order Values across platforms
  • Like in previous years, in the second half of week 1, growth in low ASP categories like Fashion, BPC, and Home could gain traction.

 

Bengaluru, 13 October 2023: The latest report by Redseer Strategy Consultants on the 2023 Indian e-commerce festive season, gives an update on the sales in the first 4 days of the sale period.

The first four days of the sale of 2023 Festive Season saw a robust ~16% YoY growth in GMV

The first four days of the 2023 Festive Season Sale, saw the overall eTailing industry clocking a GMV of ~INR 29,000 crores. This represents a YoY growth of ~16%, when compared to the GMV of ~INR 25,000 crores during the same period in 2022.

FOMO amongst Indian consumers, along with undertones of premiumization boosted by accessible financing options led to a stronger Day 0 and Day 1 of Week 1 of the 2023 Festive Season Sale

Platforms selling high ASP categories, like Mobiles, Electronics, & Large Appliances, witnessed a sharper increase in the average order value over BAU this year, when compared to last year. Further, consumers took advantage of the ‘Pre-book/Price lock’ feature, an industry-first feature, wherein users could lock in the prices for these high value products, even before the Festive Sale started. Due to this feature, along with attractive deals on high ASP items and easy financing options like No Cost EMIs, consumers locked in their choices in advance to avoid FOMO on these deals later during the actual Festive sale period.

Due to this, Day 0, or the Early Access Day, saw a 10x increase in sales over the BAU (Business as usual), while Day 1 saw a >7x increase in sales over BAU. Overall, during the first four days of the 2023 Festive Season Sale, daily sales were on average ~6x more than BAU of 2023.

The second half of the Week 1 Festive Sale could see strong momentum by low-ASP categories as well.

Categories like Fashion, Beauty & Personal Care, Home, amongst others may gain traction in the second half of the Week 1 Festive Sale. Speaking on the premiumization theme and the broader consumption theme playing out this season, Mrigank Gutgutia, Partner, Redseer, stated “Premiumization as a theme is clearly being seen in this Festive Season as consumer discretionary spending in high ticket categories has done well. Further, the steady growth in overall sales and high ASP categories reinforces the belief in the strength of the Indian consumption story. However, these are initial findings from the start of the festive month, we are closely looking at the emerging trends from the rest of the festive month to draw stronger conclusions on how consumption is evolving”  

Increased focus on fulfilment and commitment to faster deliveries, improving customer experience leading to lower cancellations

With the ‘Pre-book/Price-lock’ feature launched by eCommerce platforms prior to the Festive Sales this year, the platforms could gauge demand better prior to the sale period. This led to higher fulfilment rates and meant that eCommerce platforms could commit to faster deliveries, improving customer experience, leading to reduced cancellations and improved supply chain economics.