BANGALORE: Decided your Diwali shopping list? From Monday, you’ll be spoilt for choice as e-shopping biggies fight amongst themselves to offer your the best deals on a whole range of products. While Flipkart will hold its Big Billion Day sale on Monday, Amazon will celebrate the Diwali Dhamaka Week between October 10 and 16. Snapdeal’s ongoing Diwali Bumper Sale stretches till October 25. Myntra has announced tie-ups with brands like Moda, Jack and Jones, Puma, Biba, Lee and Vero to launch some of their products exclusively on its website in the first week of October.
From electronics to accessories, online retailers are bracing for nearly 1 lakh orders each day. With discount rates expected to touch 60-70 per cent, the festive fortnight may well match up to the online shopping craze of United States’ Cyber Monday, the Monday following the Thanksgiving Day when sales touch $1 billion.
Not wanting to lose out on the big bucks, brick-and-mortar retailers too are scrambling to compete with websites. Many of them have slashed price by half and are offering one-plus-one and buy-two-get-one-free deals.
Several trader associations have vowed not to supply goods to online retailers who sell below the market price. This has led to online retailers saying that they are mere marketplaces where the prices are decided by other sellers.
As murky as the situation might be, consumers are the clear winners. “I have been buying products online for a long time now. They offer door delivery and in case I do not like the product, I can get it returned without having to go to a store and wait in line. This is much simpler,” says Arvind T, an HR professional in Bangalore.
“The offers are sometimes better or at least as good as the stores when you factor in the delivery and the ease of shopping online,” says Siddharth R, an IT professional. The online market in India has been growing at a dizzying pace, and attracting huge investments. In 2014 alone, Flipkart raised $1 billion in funds while Amazon announced plans to invest $2 billion in business expansion. Snapdeal attracted a sizable investment by industry magnate Ratan Tata, who has put in an undisclosed amount into the Delhi-based company.
According to a study by research firm Crisil in February this year, the online retail sector is estimated to grow at 50-55 per cent for the next three years. Revenues touched `13,900 crore in 2012-13, and are likely to increase in the coming years.