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<ul><li>The <keyword id="36208" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="festive-season" source="Orion">festive season</keyword> has always been important to brands, especially to e-commerce players who line up big bumper discounts, look for more retail brands to partner and ramp up their product offerings.</li><li>This festive season, e-commerce platforms are focusing on bringing more personalisation and curation to customers shopping online through greater tech and marketing integration.</li><li>More and more e-commerce platforms are also exploring social commerce, turning their apps into super apps by bringing content, products and trends under one roof for consumers to watch and shop at once.</li><li>With increasing internet penetration, e-commerce players are expecting new growth from Tier II, III and beyond this festive, which will cumulatively contribute to $150 billion of e-commerce as per RedSeer Consulting’s report.</li><li>We speak to India’s leading e-commerce players to find out more about their festive plans and revival expectations.</li></ul>The year 2020 accelerated e-commerce industry, perhaps by a decade, revolutionising the way brands operate, run, and grow their businesses, as well as how consumers choose to shop and pay. In the initial months of the lockdown, businesses witnessed a clear shift in consumer behaviour. Historically offline shoppers also came online due to convenience and safety. Consumers are still hesitant to return to in-store shopping completely and audiences from Tier II and Tier III are also preferring to shop online. The pandemic has evidently caused an inflection point for e-commerce in the country. With the second-largest internet user base, India has emerged as one of the most prominent markets globally. Around 480 million people in India have access to the internet out of which 90 million are online shoppers, according to estimates from management consultancy RedSeer. Shoppers from India’s small towns and cities will cumulatively contribute to $150 billion of e-commerce GMV in the coming decade, until 2030, revealed RedSeer. <div type="image" title="redseer - ecomm report" msid="85901903" hostid="261"></div> After spending a glum year and a half, consumers are excited to celebrate the festive season with upcoming shopping sales for Diwali, Dussehra and Christmas. IPL and ICC T-20 World Cup will further improve consumer sentiment this year. According to a survey conducted by The Trade Desk and YouGov, 82% of consumers shopped online at least once a month in the past six months, and nearly one in four made online purchases several times a week or more often. Titled ‘<a href="https://pages.thetradedesk.com/rs/527-INM-364/images/TheFestiveSeasonPulse2021.pdf">The Festive Season Pulse 2021</a>,’ it further said that 91% of Indian consumers are planning a purchase during the upcoming festive season and six in 10 are interested in learning about new brands during festive season sales. To leverage this uptick in consumer sentiment, the e-commerce category is all set to begin its festive marketing blitz and is preparing to line up big discounts for the season in a few weeks. For this 30-day period leading up to the festive season, leading fashion e-commerce platform <keyword id="319719" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="myntra" source="Orion">Myntra</keyword> has planned ‘Big Fashion Festival,’ which will be followed up with Myntra Diwali Sale, with a focus on ethnic wear. It will also be focusing on emerging categories like Beauty and Personal care, kidswear and categories such as innerwear and essentials which have experienced tailwinds post-Covid. Myntra’s Chief Business Officer, Ayyappan Rajagopal said, “We are expecting this festive season to be bigger than last year with more customers using online channels to make their purchases. Demand usually peaks in the 30 days leading to Diwali and we expect this year to be no different. In fact, the demand in the 2 months leading to the festive season is expected to be far more than last time (because people have learnt with time to adapt to a pandemic world). We expect high demand from across geographies and markets - metros, Tier 1, Tier 2, T3 cities and beyond. To cater to that, we have built the right ethnic wear, beauty, and home selection, and have partnered with brands on best deals. Hence, to leverage this demand and provide best value to our customers, we are organizing Big Fashion Festival and Myntra Diwali Sale to make this season a resounding success.” Right on the heels of the festive season, Myntra ramped up its marketing game by onboarding Hrithik Roshan, Vijay Deverakonda and Dulquer Salmaan as its newest brand ambassadors, alongside the existing celebrity ambassadors Kiara Advani, and Samantha Akkineni. Now, it is hoping to double its customer base and cater to Gen-Z shoppers with its high-decibel marketing. “With the optimism coming from recovery from Covid and revival in shopping sentiments along with the habitualisation of digital foray across all customer segments, we see a lot of new customers shopping during this festive season. We have also seen trends in Metro/T1 markets where Myntra has been traditionally strong, pointing towards such a revival. With a positive overall sentiment, we will be looking at doubling our customer base during this period. There will also be an added focus towards expanding our footprint in southern markets, deeper penetration into Tier 2 / 3 towns and exploring customer addition through emerging categories like Kids wear, Inner wear, fashion accessories, Beauty and persona care, etc. The greatest focus will be on Gen-Z cohort of shoppers,” shared Rajagopal. E-commerce platforms are also focusing on bringing more personalisation and curation to customers shopping online through greater tech and marketing integration. More and more e-retailers are exploring social commerce, turning their apps into super apps by bringing content, products and trends under one roof for consumers to watch and shop at once. D2C fashion platform Bewakoof.com that recently raised Rs 60 crore in an investment round led by InvestCorp, IvyCap and Spring Marketing Capital, is expecting to Rs 120 crore in brand sales this quarter. It recently rolled out celebrity-led digital campaigns with Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra and Farhan Akhtar. It plans to further build its market presence by signing more A-list celebrities to its roster and launch a 360-degree campaign by October. On the technology side, the company intends to launch a gamification-led loyalty program as it upgrades its Bewakoof Tribe with new and exclusive launches for the club members. Sharing the platform’s festive plans further, Prabhkiran Singh, Founder CEO, Bewakoof.com said, “Post pandemic, we saw a strong recovery and growth in certain categories like casual wear and leisurewear because of customers staying at home and with the pandemic slowing down, we expect a strong recovery in categories like ethnic wear, bags, accessories, etc in the festive season ahead. We’re also looking to capitalise on winter wear more this year than usual with winter around the corner and have put in investments accordingly. We expect our brand sales to be Rs 120 crore for the festive quarter.” For Bewakoof, the northern and western markets see the highest demand, followed by West Bengal and Assam because of Durga Puja. Currently, over 6 million customers visit Bewakoof.com every month. Singh told us that the festive season serves as a crucial window in the year for new customer acquisition and bringing back customers that haven’t shopped again for a while. The platform is also planning on increasing its marketing spends this festive. “For this year, 15% of our total marketing budget will be spent for the upcoming festive season.” We’re in the process of rebranding Bewakoof in the next 1-2 months and we’ll have a new look, logo, tagline along with a new set of celebrities that will endorse Bewakoof so we’re excited to roll this out and create buzz around it along with backing it up with top-funnel marketing investments. We plan to go heavy on top-funnel marketing investments starting October,” said Singh. E-retail platform OLX has upped its UI to woo its customers, digitising the entire process of online retailing, including verification of all its premium items. OLX Autos launched a verified inventory of cars with a new interface, which provides a detailed history of the car right from the ownership period all the way up to the service history of the car, and access to a host of financing options and after-sales products like insurance and warranty. As a result, OLX has witnessed a surge in demand for pre-owned cars. Sapna Arora, CMO, OLX India said, “Green shoots are already visible in the used car retail segment. The demand for pre-owned cars has been 25% higher than the pre-Covid levels while there has been an 82% plus growth in demand for pre-owned smartphones. Our goods category has also witnessed a strong rebound, as demand and supply have gone up by an average of 68% and 25%, respectively, compared to pre-Covid levels. The upcoming festival season is important for us as we expect the gap to be narrowing down between pre and post-Covid levels. There has been a strong uptake of e-commerce across regions, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, with consumers there making the greatest shift to online shopping. We will continue to focus on the pre-owned auto segment and are expecting to surpass the demand this festive season.” At an industry level, Arora told us that e-commerce players are leveraging on hyper-personalisation to create individualised experiences on the platform and AI-powered chatbots are being implemented by the online retailers to bring customers close to an offline retail experience with a high engagement rate. Sharing OLX’s plan, Arora added, “This festive season we plan to use innovative solutions via relevant messaging at different levels of the retail journey. Our consumer base is growing organically. During this year’s lockdown, a lot of people moved online and we saw growth, about 30% more daily active users (DAUs) from our previous pre-Covid peak. In the festive season, our huge inventories across segments will contribute to increasing the DAU’s on the platform.” As per Nielsen India’s E-commerce Consumer Panel (E-Analytics Solution), there was a double-digit increase in average spend of online shoppers for electronics and accessories (39%), mobile and accessories (12%), and fashion, including apparel, footwear, and accessories (10%) after the pandemic. Appliances (e.g.TV, WM, refrigerators, etc.) also saw notable shopper spending increase at 9%. E-commerce giant Amazon is also ramping up its product range for the festive season. “Together with thousands of small &amp; medium business and brand partners, we continue to offer our customers the widest selection, convenience, and fast delivery. We are humbled by how millions of Indian customers have made us a part of their daily lives. Also, customers continue to believe that online shopping is the safest way to shop which has been reflecting in all the recent events of Amazon like Prime Day 2021, Great Freedom Festival, Rakhi Store, Onam store and so on. This festive season is not a normal one for reasons we all know and our success metric would be focused on how we can make our sellers successful. Customers can look forward to shopping from a wide selection of products across categories like Home &amp; Kitchen, Fashion &amp; Beauty, Appliances and Smartphones, Grocery essentials and more from the comfort and safety of their homes," said an Amazon India spokesperson. This growth trajectory of e-commerce platforms in India testifies how customers are increasingly recognising the importance of comfort shopping within closed doors, and after seeing their businesses take a plunge in the first three months of the lockdown, more and more sellers are also coming online.

This festive season, e-commerce platforms are betting big on Tier II and III markets, which are likely to contribute $150 million to e-commerce growth this year

<ul><li>Online <keyword id="1460935" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="festive-sales" source="Orion">festive sales</keyword> are expected to clock $9+ billion GMV during the whole festive month, according to homegrown consulting firm RedSeer’s latest <keyword id="12158683" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ecommerce-festive-season" source="Orion">eCommerce Festive Season</keyword> Report. </li><li> Tier 2+ will continue to drive growth as they are 55-60% of the total shopper base this year.</li></ul> This year’s festive sales is expected to grow 30% y-o-y to Gross Merchandise Value of $4.8 billion during the first week of festive season and potentially clock $9+ bn GMV during whole festive month, according to homegrown consulting firm RedSeer’s latest eCommerce Festive Season Report. This is a 23% increase from last year wherein the players clocked a GMV of $7.4 billion. The growth will be mostly driven by the accelerated online adoption which has been witnessed as an effect of Covid. Secondly, Tier 2+ will continue to drive growth as they are 55-60% of the total shopper base this year, similar or higher than 57% in 2020 festive days. On the other hand, as offline retail and mobility is recovering almost uptoPre-Covid levels, this will impact the online festive sale as customers may opt for offline shopping as well. Further, categories have been evolving differently during these months which will see an impact during the festive sale as well. While mobile will continue to dominate driven by new launches, electronics are expected to see the second highest demand driven by the wide range of selection, easy payment options including EMIs and Buy Now Pay Later among other factors. Additionally, Fashion is also expected to see a steady recovery this festive season with greater outdoor mobility of consumers and steady rebound of fashion and office wear. The report finds that the sellers are very bullish on this year’s sales and are looking to recover the losses suffered due to Covid. Nearly 80% of the sellers agree that festive sales will play a key role in recovery from Covid losses while 70% agreed that the bigger online players have been supportive and positive which led up to the sales event. The overall online GMV is expected to touch $49-52 billion which is around 37% growth from last year primarily driven by strong consumer funnel expansion and the high adoption of online shopping post Covid across the categories. “We believe that the 2021 online festive sales will continue to ride on strong tailwinds of greater consumer digital adoption supported by an increasingly positive macro and consumption sentiment post the Covid second wave has passed. At the same time, we see strong bullishness in sellers towards online festive sales as ~80% of them believe that the festive sales will enable them to drive strong sales growth and make up for the losses during Covid period. Driven by above, we expect strong 30% y-o-y growth in festive sale week in 2021 to reach $4.8 Bn in Gross GMV with growth across categories, and setting the stage for a strong year for eCommerce in 2021,” said MrigankGutgutia, associate partner at RedSeer.

Online festive sales to clock a GMV of $4.8 Billion in 2021, with a 30% growth YOY: RedSeer

<ul><li><keyword id="7980696" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bobble-ai" source="Orion">Bobble AI</keyword>'s recent report on the E-Commerce Industry in India shows E-commerce in India has witnessed an uptick of 77% between 2020 and 2021.</li><li>Flipkart dominates in terms of engagement metrics like search frequency and active sessions; Amazon wins in terms of transactions, with significantly less average session times.</li><li>Purplle had a 70% growth in active users in the 2021 shopping festival, compared to a 50% increase for Nykaa; common user base grew from 15% to 17%.</li></ul>E-commerce in India has witnessed an uptick of 77% between 2020 and 2021 and tier 2,3 cities are transacting more than ever as per a report by India’s largest conversation media platform Bobble AI. Bobble AI report is based on over 50 million smartphone users’ (in 640+ Indian cities) data processed in a privacy-compliant manner. It also revealed that while tier 1 cities dominate the fashion festival figures, transactions in tier 2 cities like Jaipur, Guwahati, Lucknow, Kochi, Mysore, and Bhubaneswar are at an all-time high – up 82% over the previous year. Apart from that, the majority of consumers are between the ages of 26 and 35 accounting for 37%, and between the ages of 18 and 25, accounting for 26% with 72% males and 28% females. According to the data intelligence company’s survey on the state of eCommerce in India, which was conducted across Tier 1, 2 and 3, beauty e-commerce apps usage grew by 64%, whereas fashion e-commerce grew by 368% over the past year. The festive period has only led the two e-commerce domains to skyrocket, with at least two transactions completed by shopaholics during the fashion festivals. In an interesting insight highlighted by the study, India’s fashion e-commerce industry has transformed from ‘Monopoly’ to ‘Ludo.’ Fashion giant Myntra faced tough competition from its competitive counterparts, Meesho, Ajio, and TataCliq. While almost 46% of all transactions belonged to Myntra during the 2020 festive period, Ajio bagged around 69% of all transactions in 2021. The share of Myntra’s active users, also using Meesho, Ajio, and TataCliq has also increased significantly, indicating how users are exploring multiple options this year. The battle of the e-commerce legends, Amazon, and Flipkart is worth noting, with Flipkart’s active user base rising 83% in 2021 online shopping festival compared to Amazon’s 72%. Despite the fact that Flipkart is dominating in terms of engagement metrics like search frequency and active sessions, Amazon is winning in terms of transactions, significantly less average session times. Apart from fashion e-commerce, interesting insights have also emerged from the beauty e-commerce segment. Leading players Nykaa and Purplle locked horns this festive season – and Purplle took a piece from Nykaa’s pie. In light of Nykaa’s IPO, let’s look at their market share against Purplle, Nykaa’s pure-play fashion e-commerce competitor. Purplle had a 70% growth in active users in the 2021 shopping festival, compared to a 50% increase for Nykaa. With 15% common user base in 2020, Purplle is now standing at 17% in 2021. The festive season trends point towards healthy and fast-evolving competition in the e-commerce market, which bodes well for customers who are looking for high-quality products at affordable prices. With the festive season coming to a close, it is exciting to anticipate how the competition will pan out in 2022. With India’s e-commerce market set to reach $120 billion by<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinrozario/2021/07/13/e-commerce-in-india-set-to-reach-120-billion-in-2025-says-report/?sh=3db8de784611"> 2025</a>, the future seems promising. Hypergrowth is definitely on the horizon for the segment, and according to Bobble AI’s findings, brands are poised to capture growth opportunities.

Ajio and Myntra locked horns this festive season in fashion e-commerce: Report

<ul><li>After the <keyword id="36208" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="festive-season" source="Orion">festive season</keyword>, <keyword id="12587365" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="shopsy" source="Orion">Shopsy</keyword>’s active user base grew 3.7X to what it was before September 2021.</li><li>Fashion, beauty, general merchandise and home leading the growth story.</li></ul><keyword id="6354742" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="flipkart" source="Orion">Flipkart</keyword>’s social commerce platform Shopsy, continues to witness strong growth through its consumers, sellers and resellers from across the country. Backed by festive fervor, the platform has seen 3.6x growth in new app downloads, crossing the 10 million+ mark on the play store, within five months of its launch. Since July 2021, Shopsy has received an overwhelming response from consumers and resellers across the country who hopped onto the platform for their ‘shop &amp; earn’ needs. Shopsy clocked in 4X revenue growth during this festive period, compared to the non-festive sale period, making it the top social commerce platform for consumers across the country. The platform's active user base grew 3.7X to what it was during the non-festive period. For Shopsy, categories including fashion, beauty, general merchandise and home (BGMH) led the growth story in October. Prakash Sikaria, Senior Vice President - Growth and Monetization, Flipkart, said, “With the n200 million digital consumers coming from Tier 2 and 3 cities, we want to build a community that truly democratizes commerce in the country. The social commerce landscape in the country is evolving at a fast pace, and with Shopsy we are building a sustainable platform backed by our technology prowess. Small businesses and sellers see immense benefit on what Shopsy as a platform has to offer them ­-­­­­— ranging from zero commission to free shipping facilities. We continue to ensure digital commerce reaches the length and breadth of our country and help make lives better.” Kumud Jindal - Samridhee Creations, a seller with Flipkart’s Shopsy from Jaipur, said “With Shopsy our ability to reach a wider audience base has increased drastically, as we leverage the power of technology to drive up sales. The fact that Shopsy charges 0% commission from sellers also adds to its charm.” Nabeel from FASTCOLORS, another successful seller on Shopsy from Chennai said, “Our hesitation of joining a new platform like Shopsy was washed away by the benefits that sellers get on listing their products. Especially during the festive season, things like 0% commission, getting the same settlement value for which we are selling to the customer, and the ease of uploading real-life pictures of our products really helped us establish transparency with our customers and boosted our sales. We are expecting even better growth with Shopsy in the future.” According to a recent Bain &amp; Company report on ‘How India Shops Online - 2021’, social commerce is set to democratize e-retail, with three in five social shoppers coming from Tier 2/smaller towns. Tapping into this opportunity, Shopsy has expanded its presence in new Tier 2 and 3 cities such as Bhatinda, Barpeta, Gandhinagar, Morena, Mandla, Muzaffarnagar, Raipur, Sri Ganganagar and Saharanpur during the festive period, unlocking the potential of digital commerce for under-served consumers. Shopsy was launched by Flipkart in July 2021 with the aim to make digital commerce accessible across India through a zero-commission marketplace to boost local entrepreneurship. Since then, Shopsy has helped local &amp; small businesses and women entrepreneurs adopt social commerce by simply reaching out to their trusted network of people on common social media apps. Shopsy has over 2.5 lakh sellers on the platform who provide 150 million products across 250+ categories. Shopsy is on track to enable over 25 million online entrepreneurs by 2023.

Flipkart's Shopsy crosses the 10 million+ mark on Play Store backed by festive purchases

As India gears up for its vibrant festive season, a notable surge in <keyword id="23052492" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="seasonal-hiring" source="keywords">seasonal hiring</keyword> is taking place across various industries, with gig roles leading the charge. According to data from job site Indeed, seasonal hiring is projected to rise by 20% this year compared to last, driven primarily by <keyword id="19990771" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="e-commerce" source="keywords">e-commerce</keyword>, logistics, and retail sectors, as companies prepare for heightened consumer demand. Sashi Kumar, Head of Sales at Indeed India, emphasised, "The festive season is a crucial period for businesses across India, and we're seeing a significant uptick in hiring for seasonal roles as companies prepare to meet heightened consumer demand." <h3 style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:14.0pt;margin-bottom:4.0pt;">What is gig work?</h3>Gig work refers to flexible, short-term, or freelance employment often facilitated by digital platforms. Unlike traditional full-time jobs, gig workers are hired on a project basis, allowing them to work for multiple employers or companies as needed. These roles are popular in industries like food delivery, transportation, and logistics. During India's <keyword id="21015356" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="festival-season" source="keywords">festival season</keyword>, when businesses experience a spike in demand, gig workers play an essential role in ensuring smooth operations across sectors like retail and e-commerce. <h3>Gig labour during festival season</h3>The festive season in India, spanning from September to December, is one of the busiest times of the year for businesses. As a result, companies ramp up hiring to cope with increased sales and customer demand. Seasonal roles in delivery, logistics, warehouse operations, and customer support see the highest demand, as businesses focus on timely deliveries, inventory management, and customer satisfaction. Indeed's data reveals that the top gig roles witnessing a rise in hiring this season include <keyword id="21462485" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="delivery-executives" source="keywords">delivery executives</keyword>, <keyword id="22103182" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="warehouse-workers" source="keywords">warehouse workers</keyword>, <keyword id="23052493" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="logistics-coordinators" source="keywords">logistics coordinators</keyword>, <keyword id="23052494" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="in-store-sales-executives" source="keywords">in-store sales executives</keyword>, and customer care executives. While major cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi see a steady increase in demand for gig workers (18-20%), tier-2 and tier-3 cities like Nagpur, Jaipur, and Vadodara are emerging as key contributors, witnessing a hiring surge of 22-25%. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112999246" title="As fast as some jobs are growing, others are losing steam" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><h3><keyword id="3480589" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="meesho" source="Orion">Meesho</keyword> major contributor</h3>One of the standout examples this festive season is Meesho, a leading e-commerce marketplace in India. According to sources, the platform has enabled around 8.5 lakh seasonal job opportunities, representing a 70% increase from last year. Of these, 5 lakh jobs were created within Meesho's seller network, while another 3.5 lakh jobs emerged in the logistics sector. Sourabh Pandey, CXO of Fulfilment and Experience at Meesho, shared, "This festive season, we are particularly thrilled to have enabled 8.5 lakh seasonal jobs, especially in tier-3 and beyond cities. Empowering SMBs, local manufacturers, and logistics providers to scale their business is resulting in meaningful economic opportunities that are driving financial inclusion in these regions." Meesho has reportedly also partnered with prominent third-party logistics providers such as Delhivery, Ecom Express, and Shadowfax to meet the increased demands of the festive season. These collaborations have not only expanded logistics capacity but also helped generate gig opportunities in first-mile, middle-mile, and delivery associate roles. Abhishek Bansal, CEO &amp; Co-founder of Shadowfax, commented, "We are particularly excited to nearly double our capacity across several value-added services, such as Reverse Quality Check-Based Pickups and Hand-to-Hand Doorstep Exchange. These efforts ensure smooth deliveries and returns during the festive rush." <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112720685" title="If you want to find a job, it&amp;#39;s time to specialize" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><h3 style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:14.0pt;margin-bottom:4.0pt;">The future of gig work in India</h3>The rapid rise in <keyword id="23052491" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="gig-hiring" source="keywords">gig hiring</keyword> reflects the evolving needs of today's consumers, particularly during high-demand periods like the festive season. The e-commerce industry, which saw a 35% rise in demand for seasonal workers, is expected to continue driving this trend, with logistics and retail sectors close behind. "The industries that are growing — e-commerce, logistics, quick commerce — are doing so because they're aligned with the needs and behaviours of today's consumers,” Sashi Kumar explains. “This is where the future of India's <keyword id="19916569" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="job-market" source="keywords">job market</keyword> could be heading". With a flurry of companies contributing significantly to job creation, particularly in tier-3 and tier-4 cities, gig work is becoming a vital source of employment across the country. As India's job market evolves, gig work is likely to play an even larger role in shaping the future of work, offering flexibility and economic opportunity to millions of workers. (With inputs from agencies)

E-commerce is expected to help seasonal hiring for gig roles surge by 20% this festival season: reports

This Diwali season is proving to be lucky for leading brick and mortar retailers, as they are seeing double-digit surge in their same-store sales. This has happened despite the big discount sales that top online rivals rolled out last month. This has hinted at a sharp u-turn from last year's trend when we saw physical stores reporting subdued demand because of customers’ growing fondness fro e-commerce players. 
 The retailers that have seen good sales count in big names like Future Group, <keyword id="123895" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Arvind-Brands">Arvind Brands</keyword>, <keyword id="64373" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shoppers-Stop">Shoppers Stop</keyword>, <keyword id="182667" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vijay-Sales">Vijay Sales</keyword>, <keyword id="138873" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Puma">Puma</keyword> and <keyword id="26842" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Max">Max</keyword>. all these names have reported floating demand for their products in the past two weeks. 
 
Future Group, which is country's largest retailer, is reportedly all set to grow its business by 25 to 30% this Diwali season. Retailers have attributed the rise in demand for their products to fresh merchandise, fewer discounted merchandise of big brands on online portals, and early onset of winter chill in some parts of the country. 
 
"With fewer discounts by ecommerce and new season merchandise offered by physical retailers, we are seeing same-store sales growth of 8-15%," said J Suresh, chief executive at Arvind Lifestyle Brands, which sells brands such as Gap, US Polo, Wrangler and Calvin Klein. 
 
Last year, e-commerce giants Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal pursued an aggressive discounting policy during the festive season, which helped them gain market share and traffic. This in turn left an impact on the demand in physical stores; this forced traditional retailers to approach the government over what they said was predatory pricing. 
 
What has come out of this trend is the fact that e-commerce players and brick and mortar retailers can coexist in the market, without necessarily harming each other. 
 
Govind Shrikhande, Managing Director at the country's largest department store chain Shoppers Stop, stated that the "huge gap" between end of season sales in August and Diwali has also helped the surge in demand. 
 
A survey by global research firm Ipsos reported that nearly 81% consumers prefer to buy from physical stores during festive seasons rather than from online companies, no matter the discounts. 
 
Indian festive season, which starts from Durga Puja and continues till Diwali season sees a quick upsurge in the consumer spending, because of financial issues taking a back step and festive emotions seeping in to the priority. 
 Industry insiders have said that big marketers like LG, Apple and Panasonic started their festive promotions much earlier than usual this year. This was done to ensure that their offline trade is not hit hard by <keyword id="1472817" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="online-discounts">online discounts</keyword>. 
 
Meanwhile, e-commerce majors have started to consolidate their business with a significant increase in the number of vendors and product categories. With more and more people taking to online shopping through mobile apps, this has helped in the expansion of the overall market. 
 
<a href="http://www.rochelleallison.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/real-estate-property-sales-increase.jpg">Image source</a>

For retail shops, Christmas came early!

<ul><li><keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> has registered a 50% growth over last year’s <keyword id="467686" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Diwali-sales">Diwali sales</keyword>, even while it has one more sale edition coming up. </li><li>It saw 90% of its orders coming from non-metro cities.</li><li>It also saw first time users grow by 2.3 times year-on-year.</li></ul>Indian e-commerce player Snapdeal which is charting its turnaround story, received a festive boost. This year’s Diwali sales grew by 50% over last year. And, it has another edition coming up. The e-commerce player has had two Snap Diwali sales, and the third edition will be held from October 18-20. Its first time users grew by 2.3 times year-on-year. As has been the case with all others, Snapdeal too saw 90% of its orders coming from non-metro cities. For Flipkart’s Big Billion Day sale too, the number of transacting customers from Tier 2 cities and beyond, doubled from last year. Meanwhile, Amazon saw 91% of its new customers coming from these towns. Amazon also registered most of its sales in the first 24 hours, from these cities. Interestingly, Snapdeal also noticed a saw a trend where users from metro cities placed Diwali gift orders for Diwali gifts for their loved ones staying in Tier II and Tier III cities. According to Snapdeal, “the trend of users buying gifts on Snapdeal and sending it to their families back home is something that started last year and has grown sharply this year. The volume of such gifts has already tripled this year and we expect more such orders over the next few days.” While clothing constituted for 60% of the gifting items, 20% of gifts were home use products.

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For retail shops, Christmas came early!

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Snapdeal’s Diwali sales grew by 50% and it has another sale in the offing

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