Flipkart gears up for second festival sale this week, claims better brand recall

Sales of products in several key categories spiked between five to nine times their sales on a regular day on Flipkart

E-commerce marketplace Flipkart claims that it has had better brand recall among customers this festive season when compared to its rivals. The company claimed sales on its platform spiked during Amazon’s recent sale on 17-20 October despite it not running any such campaign or offering extra discount.

Sales of products in several key categories such as smartphones, electronics, fashion, and large appliances spiked between five to nine times their sales on a regular day on Flipkart. The unforeseen sales jump is making Flipkart to course correct its estimates for the month of October, increasing it far beyond the three time jump in sales it earlier expected. With the company’s second sale planned on October 25-28, it expects yet another large turnout that will help boost sales to close to four times its monthly sales average.

“What we saw after Big Billion Days was a 30 per cent increase in our baseline, but on the 17th we saw a huge spike in terms of revenue units and traffic as well. While we had not spent on anything but had ensured that we were giving bank offers throughout the month, so that customers get great offers,” said Smrithi Ravichandran, Director of category design and management at Flipkart.

Flipkart’s ads promoting the Big Billion Days struck a note with customers, breaking away from rivals Amazon and Snapdeal’s strategy of trying to create an emotional appeal, the company said, claiming a higher mindshare among e-commerce companies. 

The campaign has reached an estimated 120 million people, who bought 15.5 million products on Flipkart during the first installation of BBD this season.

“It’s not always only about discounts. Even there it should ideally be giving cash to the consumer because giving gift cards and other things is a really roundabout way of doing it. It’s great to get some loyalty and repeat customers, but you should not be overdoing it,” added Ravichandran.

While deals on e-commerce platforms have been on the low this year compared to last year, Flipkart has been looking at bringing value through bank partnerships, no-cost EMI, and product exchange. It says this along with a strong brand recall, partly thanks to its humorous ads with kids, has helped it maintain its leadership in India’s e-commerce market.

Amazon, the challenger from the US which has pledged to invest $5 billion in India however stakes claim to be the leader of India’s e-commerce market for itself. Armed with sufficient funds, it wants to outprice the competition and sold 15 million items (including an estimated 2 million Prime memberships) during its recent sale.

A duel of words between Flipkart and Amazon ensued soon after the first round of festive sales Amazon said it was the leader. Now with a jump in sales at Amazon’s marketing expense, the Indian company is trying to add fuel to the fire.

“We don’t really have to do any chest-beating. If customers are coming despite us not doing too much of marketing and communication and people are still buying on Flipkart, that itself shows that Flipkart is the leader,” said Ravichandran.