 "Flipkart")
Flipkart will host its annual flagship sale event, 'The Big Billion Days' (TBBD), from October 8 to October 15, with early access for Plus customers beginning October 7. The 10th edition of the annual shopping festival marks a milestone in Flipkart's over 15-year journey. The event is expected to attract millions of customers, sellers, MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), and Kirana delivery partners across India under one platform.
Flipkart's chief rival, Amazon, is also hosting its flagship sale event, 'Great Indian Festival' (GIF), on October 8, with early access for Prime members beginning October 7.
"The Big Billion Days this year is a special one, not just for Flipkart, but for the entire ecosystem, as we step into this milestone 10th year," said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer of Flipkart Group. "This growth story is one that transcends across our growing seller network, MSMEs, brands, Kirana partners and Samarth programme - creating numerous jobs and promoting inclusion in the digital economy at large. Over the years, the Indian e-commerce industry has witnessed exponential growth, fuelled by the country's growing digital infrastructure."
Ahead of the festive season, Flipkart recently said it will generate over 1,00,000 new job opportunities across its supply chain, including fulfilment and sortation centres, and delivery hubs. In the run-up to the festive season, Flipkart is looking at hiring and creating lakhs of seasonal jobs across its pan-India supply chain to cater to customer demand during the festive season.
These seasonal jobs include local Kirana delivery partners, women, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and others. This year, Flipkart has scaled its supply chain with last-mile distribution hubs and large-scale fulfilment centres, strengthening its reach in Tier-III cities and beyond. It has added more than 19 lakh square feet of space across Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Telangana. The e-commerce firm is also planning to deliver more than 40 per cent of shipments during the festive event through its Kirana delivery programme.
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Over 1.4 million entrepreneurs, including Flipkart Samarth sellers, encompassing artisans, weavers, women, and self-help groups (SHGs), are set to participate in the TBBD. Flipkart said the 27 per cent year-on-year growth in sellers underscores Flipkart's widespread acceptance among the seller community and MSMEs. The firm has also built innovative tech interventions, such as AI-powered cataloguing, enhanced seller experience, streamlined onboarding process, and simplified listing. The firm said this is empowering Indian entrepreneurs and driving digital adoption.
The company said its 'Sale Price Live' (SPL) event kicked off the festive fervour on September 27 to help Flipkart marketplace sellers generate incremental sales, offering the best value to customers as a trailer to the Big Billion Days.
E-commerce retailers are expected to garner sales worth Rs 90,000 crore this festive season, 18-20 per cent higher than last year, according to a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants. This is the 10th year of the festive season sales for online retailers in India. The first-ever Indian e-tailing festive season sales happened in 2014. Over these 10 years, Indian e-tailing has transformed almost entirely as the annual GMV (gross merchandise value) for the overall e-tailing industry has grown almost 20 times in the period. In 2014, the industry clocked a GMV of Rs 27,000 crores in the whole year. Redseer said this year (2023) the same is expected to be approximately Rs 5,25,000 crore. In the process, the number of annual transacting users has jumped 15x.
