E-tail Fireworx

The fireworks have started way before Diwali, as the big three in Indian e-tailing—Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal—tried to outdo each other by offering merchandise at big discounts on Monday. Though many shoppers were disappointed with ‘out of stock’ stickers and website errors, those who managed to grab a bargain showed off their buys on social media sites. The Bangalore-based Flipkart, which sparked off the econtest with its much-publicized Big Billion Day sale, said it had notched up $100 million in sales as shoppers bought 20 lakh products. Going by Flipkart’s expected annual sales of $3 billion (Rs.18,000 crore), that’s a 12-fold jump from the $8.2 million it has been doing on average per day. Its rival Snapdeal, which ran an ad with a cheeky tagline ‘For others it’s a big day. For us, today’s no different’, said sales had almost doubled in some segments, such as apparel, though the average increase till late evening was 15 times. CEO Kunal Bahl, claimed sales hit Rs.1 crore a minute although a spokesperson later clarified that these numbers were seen during the initial hours of their Diwali sale.
After claiming to have notched up sales of $100 million on Monday, Flipkart said it had crossed an annual run rate of $3 billion (Rs.18,000 crore approx) and was eyeing a much higher figure for the current financial year on the back of tie-ups with Motorola, Xiaomi, etc and its growing market share in the fashion category. In March, Flipkart became India's first e-retailer to hit $1 billion in sales. Snapdeal and Amazon followed suit. E-tail giants Snapdeal and Flipkart have claimed that their mega sales on Monday were a huge hit. Amazon, which has thrown the gauntlet at its competitors with huge investments in India, was more coy about revealing figures, saying its “Mission to Mars' campaign had seen sales double, but compared to Sunday .Amazon also resorted to some ambush marketing. When surfers keyed in “bigbillionday“ in their browser, they landed on the amazon.in site, not on Flipkart.
Smartphones and footwear have seen the biggest spurt in demand, followed by laptops, tablets and consumer electronics, Snapdeal and Amazon said.
Some disgruntled customers, however, coined hashtags like #Flopkart and #Failkart after they had problems with the site but Flipkart defended itself by saying the consumer demand was higher than expected. It also said it would continue with its promotional offers and discounts this festival season.