The great Indian e-tail sale this festive season is set to continue with a host of companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, others looking to woo consumers with big discounts. Both Snapdeal and Amazon plan to expand their offerings in coming weeks including a host of products that are top on Indian consumers' list, while Flipkart itself is looking at a bigger version of its day long sale with a week-long offering starting this weekend.
“This festive season would be lot different from others as e-tailers have stolen the limelight with aggressive promotion and advertising campaigns,” said an official of leading retail consultancy firm who did not wish to be named.
The ongoing sale will get bigger in coming weeks. While Amazon which also ran a 3-day discount campaign, Mission to Mars between October 4-6, is planning next big sale, Diwali Dhamaka, between October 10-16, Flipkart is also planning a week-long programme during the same period. Snapdeal is expected to continue its ongoing scheme where discounts would be on offer on top of the line pedicts on each day running up to Diwali.
Flipkart's 'Big Billion Day' sale helped the company to achieve record single day sales of Rs 600 crore on Monday, and its competitor Snapdeal too increased its daily average sale with company claiming to have reached sales of Rs 1 crore per minute, adding up to Rs 600 crore for it too.
But both these companies, particularly Flipkart, were also flooded with complaints on the social media of products disappearing after being shown on the screen and site crashing frequently preventing sale from being completed. Complaints ranged from technical errors, to comments on pricing scams, to lack of product variety.
The silent winner on the sale day appeared to be Amazon which strengthened its pool of offerings after leaning from the mistakes of others - but there were no sales figures released by Amazon.
Although e-commerce accounts for less than 1% of the total retail market in India, it is by far the fastest growing retail channel as has been reflected in the online buying frenzy for past few days. E-commerce is estimated to grow to as much as $22 billion (excluding travel) in five years from $ 3.1 billion currently, according to a November 2013 report by CLSA.(Source http://www.financialexpress .com)
To counter Flipkart’s ‘Big Billion Day’, Amazon India is ready with an entire week of sale named as ‘Diwali Dhamaka Week’ where the e-commerce portal is offering up to 50 per cent discount on selected Diwali products.
The sale has started from 7AM on Friday and will be go on till October 17, 2014 (Friday of next week).
In initial stage, there is 55 per cent discount available on handbags and satchels while customers can buy watches on discounts up to 50 per cent.
There were many phones available on the Flipkart on price of Rs. 1 but, on Amazon, till so far, we did not see such deal.
On few phones like Nokia 1020, Flipkart has offered more than 60 per cent discount but such mesmerizing rate tags are still missing from the Amazon website. However, the e-commerce site will offer Nokia Lumia 625 in just Rs 8,999 which is 49 per cent discount on the main price.
Chetan Bhagat's latest release 'Half Girlfriend' is available in just Rs 99, cheaper than the offered price at Flipkart.
Till so far, unlike Flipkart, no pendrive or screen guard of mobiles are available in Rs 1 on Amazon.
According to the company, more deals will be revealed very soon. (Source http:// www. abplive.in/)
The blockbuster Big Billion Day sale on Flipkart that gave it $100 million in revenue in only 10 hours has clearly backfired on the poster boy of Indian e-commerce. Flipkart is now facing government scrutiny, following complaints from traders over undercutting prices and adversely affecting competition. A probe by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is not ruled out.
This comes soon after Flipkart failed to please millions of Indians on the much-advertised 'Big Billion Day', though co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal were quick to send an apology to buyers, who were angry over technical glitches and price anomalies.
But the apology of the Bansals (not related to each other) might not be enough, as Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has indicated the government is watching. "We have received many inputs. Lots of concerns have been expressed. We will look into it," Sitharaman told the media. She added the government would soon make it clear, after studying the matter, whether a separate policy or clarification was required for e-commerce.
Indeed, an e-commerce policy has been in the making for long, even as the sector, pegged at around Rs 18,000 crore, has been growing at a rapid pace and is expected to touch Rs 50,000 crore by 2016. The only clarity that has been provided by the government on the sector is that foreign direct investment is not permitted. However, e-commerce players have taken advantage of the regulatory silence on marketplace (a format of hosting retailers on a technology platform) to attract foreign investment. Even international e-commerce leaders like Amazon and eBay have used the marketplace route to enter India.
Asked to respond to Sitharaman's observation and traders' concerns, a Flipkart spokesperson said: "We are an e-marketplace, where sellers decide the price, and only they can change the prices in the system. They sell directly to buyers without stepping out of their workplace."
Though it is Flipkart and its 'Big Billion Day' that seem to be under the lens, other e-commerce players like Amazon, Snapdeal and Myntra (now acquired by Flipkart), too, are on a discount spree, at times offering products at prices that even dealers cannot afford.
The scrutiny on Flipkart, and perhaps some other e-commerce players, has been triggered by traders who are prominent in brick-and-mortar retailing.
Future Group Chief Executive Kishore Biyani has attacked e-commerce players for selling products below manufacturing prices. The undercutting of prices was meant to destroy competition, Biyani said.
Others, including the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and the newly formed Online Vendors Association of India (OVAI), want a regulator to look into the matter of price undercutting by e-commerce players in the festive season. Traders are a large supporter base for the ruling National Democratic Alliance government.
OVAI Convenor Rahul Suri told Business Standard: "They (e-commerce players) should not use their funding for undercutting prices." They should focus on offering convenience to buyers and not killing competition, he added.
Even as there are suggestions that CCI should take up the matter as it deals with undercutting and predatory pricing, there is no decision yet on that. CCI Chairman Ashok Chawla said the commission would take up the matter if and when there was a complaint linked to predatory pricing.
The objective of CCI is to promote competition and it gets into the picture only when there is a complaint on predatory pricing. But it is learnt that in the past, CCI could not proceed in a similar case related to e-commerce company, Snapdeal, as it was not a seller itself but was only providing a platform where the seller and the buyer could meet.
Flipkart, which was conventionally an inventory-based company, has now shifted to marketplace, the same model as Snapdeal.(Source http://www. business-standard.com)
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