Amazon, Flipkart festival sales face-off on Oct 10

NEW DELHI: Amazon India will launch its largest annual festive sale on October 10, clashing with the Big Billion Days event of Walmart-backed rival Flipkart, as the battle for leadership in the nation’s online marketplace gets more intense.The companies plan to compete across categories with exclusive launches and cheaper deals during the five-day sale. Also on offer will be a suite of payment options for customers and faster delivery. Both expect a bulk of the orders to come from towns and small cities this year.
“This year, we will have worked together with our ecosystem of sellers, partners and brands to get the best sellers in every category and across every price point,” said Manish Tiwary, vice-president of category management at Amazon India.

He predicted sales to rise many folds this year, but didn’t give a target number. Flipkart expects gross sales from its Big Billion Days to double from last year to more than $1 billion (Rs 7,250 crore).

Run up to the Diwali festive season is a crucial period for most ecommerce companies, including these two and others like Paytm Mall, Pepperfry, Firstcry and Lenskart, as customers tend to buy more during this season. These marketplaces work closely with their suppliers during the festive season to provide lucrative offers to customers to help boost sales.

This sale season, it will be critical for Amazon to show growth and leadership in the Indian market, as Wall Street will closely be watching its performance post Walmart investing in competitor Flipkart, sources said.

Amazon said it expanded its logistics capabilities by setting up more than 50 fulfilment centres in 13 states to cater to a spike in demand for the 170 million products from more than 380,000 sellers available on its platform.

The development was first reported by ET Retail.com

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