E-Commerce industry is ready to host the Diwali season. Are you?

The festive season is starting from October and the e-Commerce companies are gearing up to woo the customers. The e-Commerce industry is expecting sales of Rs 25,600 crore ($4 billion) this year during Diwali season.

As per the Hindu calendar, the festive season starts with ‘Navratri’ in the month of October. After October, there are a string of festivals and the festivities do not stop till December as the last month of the year is believed to be the most auspicious one for weddings. These festive months, as calculated by the Technopark Advisors, are expected to account 40% of the total $10-billion annual sales the Indian e-Commerce industry is aiming to record this year.

The growing sector reported a $7-billion sale in FY15 with 40% sales coming during the festive season.

Snapdeal senior vice-president, marketing, Idi Srinivas Murthy, said that the company saw a 15x increase in traffic during Diwali last year and this year too they were intensifying all aspects of business operations, including logistics, supply-chain, financial and technological support.

"We have launched faster last-mile delivery solutions and a refreshed user interface. We are also developing a host of solutions for our 1,50,000 sellers," Murthy said.

Being the most lucrative period for the whole industry, the companies often compete with each other to gain maximum benefits. The two major grounds on which all the e-tailers focus are delivery performance and customer satisfaction.

Mumbai-based furniture and home products seller Pepperfry, in a bid to make most of the festive season, has increased its merchant base, multiplied marketing outreach, has invested in doubling its logistics capabilities by expanding fulfillment centers, delivery and assembly capabilities as well as technology capabilities.

The company’s chief marketing officer Kashyap Vadapalli said, "Our sales were up 200% (last Diwali) as we took necessary steps both at the logistics and supply end.”

The coming festive months are crucial not just for the e-Commerce industry, but also for the companies providing logistics solutions. Logistics startup ‘Delhivery’ is expecting a significant surge in volumes, similar to last year.

"Delhivery is continuously investing in technology, infrastructure and automation to ensure such surges are managed well during the festive season," said Mohit Tandon, co-founder, of the firm. However, with rising demand, these companies are bound to face innumerable challenges.

"Since the logistics partners are common to almost all players, fulfilling the demands over a given period of time becomes a concern," said Praveen Sinha, managing director and founder of online fashion retailer Jabong. "It is not always easy due to the overwhelming response that we get during this time. It sometimes becomes challenging to have a constant stock of products," he added.

In the past one year mobile and internet penetration has increased further indicating that this year online purchasing will grow multi-fold compared to Diwali 2014, Kushal Nahata, CEO and co-founder of enterprise mobility platform FarEye said.

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