Clicking towards record: India's festival season spurs online shopping spree
India's festival season, e-commerce companies like Amazon and Walmart owned Flipkart are looking forward to a potentially record breaking few weeks.
Any lingering fears that inflation and higher interest rates would dampen consumers' spirit in Asia's third largest economy, are being rapidly dispelled.
RedSeer, a Bangalore-based consultancy, which monitors over 100 platforms covering 90% of online sales, predicts virtual shoppers will spend a record $11 billion during the month to mid-November — which would be nearly 20% more than last year.
Amazon India has made its «best-ever start» to the peak period in the shopping calendar, according to vice president Manish Tiwary, reporting a record 95 million customer visits in the first two days of its 'Great Indian Festival 2023' campaign.
Over at Flipkart, sales of electronic products, lifestyle garments and furniture were seven to ten times higher than in the pre-festival period, said vice president Arief Mohamad.
Both retailers have hired over 200,000 temporary workers to meet the rush and added over 300,000 new sellers, according to company officials.
«I don't have time even for lunch as there are so many packets to be delivered,» said Ajay Singh, a delivery boy at a Flipkart delivery centre in a busy market in New Delhi.
Singh says he's working more than 12 hours a day and expects to double his earnings over the next few weeks.
CHANGING WAYS
Citing a report by market research Neilson, Amazon officials said over 80% of urban consumers were expected to shop online during this festival season, and half of buyers were willing to spend more compared to last year.
A shift in consumer behaviour and increased penetration of smartphones has fuelled the rise in online
