Today we’re looking at India’s big cashback and e-commerce competitors, several up and comers, and what they’re planning and selling during the critical Festival sales season. Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon will be fighting a fiercely competitive battle during the equivalent to US Black Friday sales. Meeting the delivery challenge is keen for every e-commerce company, no more so than in India. Paytm launches its first online e-commerce presence with plans for big discounts.
And it’s not just about the big three as Cashkaro and Jumping Pounds hope to sell more than $77 million worth of products between them. Automobile dealer Tata Motors launched an eye-popping 100% cashback promotion that is getting attention. How big is the Indian e-commerce market? Try $7 billion in online sales in 2014! Confederation of All India Traders challenges foreign companies like Amazon for unfair competition but Amazon has tied up with more than 2000 local merchants and now operates 21 warehouses in 10 Indian states to handle local delivery. Flipkart goes app-only, leaving some desktop buyers angry at being forced to use the mobile app. They may need to rethink this e-commerce strategy depending on how consumers and competition respond.
How Flipkart, Amazon, others are gearing up for festive season
Manjunath’s employer, Flipkart, is looking at shipping 1,03,000 packages daily during “Big Billion Days”, as opposed to 65,000 on other days, according to multiple operations executives with the firm. Its Gurgaon-headquartered rival, Snapdeal, saw sales grow 10 times during its preview Diwali sale held last Monday and is optimistic about similar numbers as the festival season picks up. Furniture marketplace Pepperfry is looking at sales doubling during these months while payment-solutions-firm-turned-marketplace Paytm is eyeing 3x growth. If these projections sound dazzling, it’s because the Diwali-Dussehra season is traditionally the time when Indians have shopped the most online, and ecommerce companies expect 40% of annual sales to come from the months of October and November.
And while deep discounts are still the way to the customer’s wallet for companies like Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal, e-commerce companies across sectors are also trying to leave nothing to chance while ensuring the customer gets what he ordered, on time. Via timesofindia.indiatimes.com
CashKaro targeting over Rs 300 crore ($64.9 million) in GMV
New Delhi: Coupons and cashback website CashKaro is targeting over Rs 300 crore ($64.9 million) in gross merchandise value (GMV) in the upcoming festive season, according to its founder, Swati Bhargava.
“We are expecting to drive Rs 500 crore ($77.1 million) of GMV this festive season (Oct-Dec) through CashKaro and our UK Cashback site, Pouring Pounds, with Rs 300 crore through CashKaro.com itself,” Bhargava said.
GMV, a key ecommerce industry metric, indicates a firm’s growth based on the maximum price of goods and services sold on the platform. The actual revenue could be lower. Via retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com
Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon to lock horns in a major Diwali sale war with amazing offers and discounts starting tomorrow!
Mumbai, October 12: It’s that time of the year again! Diwali is just round the corner and all the big e-commerce websites of India are gearing up to earn big. India’s number one e tailing site Flipkart is holding the Big Billion Sale from tomorrow and the Snapdeal and Amazon are all set to try to beat Flipkart this time. All the three sites are holding huge sales, utilising the Indian buyers’ increased buying willingness and capacity, during the festive season. Flipkart had held The Big Billion Sale last year too and it had been hugely successful. This year, however, the etailing giant will face tough competition from the other two.
Snapdeal hosted the ‘Electronics Monday’, offering amazing discounts and deals on electronic items, every hour. The discounts started from as low as 11% and went up to as high as 70%, on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, wi-fi routers, printers etc. On Amazon, the five-day sale, starting from October 13, Tuesday, has exciting offers on electronics to the newest trends that are sure to keep you fashion forward, the sale offers you with the best deals and discounts across categories from numerous brands. With countless offers, you can shop online for computers, mobiles, kitchen appliances, TV and entertainment units, apparel, footwear, accessories, cutlery and much more. Via india.com
Amazon India Challenges Flipkart’s Billion Day Sale With Great Indian Festive Sale!
Amazon India has played the app promotion strategy with great caution and subtleness. Like Flipkart, Amazon is also trying to entice more app users, but the way they are promoting it looks gentle and noble, unlike Flipkart’s ‘compulsory’, ‘mandatory’ way of pushing it.
For instance, all app users on Amazon would be entitled to 15% cashback while using HDFC cards, whereas desktop users would get 10% cashback. On the other hand, there are few ‘app-only’ offers, which would be floated on the last two days: October 16th and 17th; which can further induce their customers towards apps. But note here, that Amazon is promoting voluntary actions to promote their app, not like Flipkart which has issued a diktat of sorts for its customers. Via trak.in
Paytm to Hold First-Ever Festive Season Sale This Month
Mobile shopping app Paytm is gearing up its operations for the festive season in the second half of October with its first-ever festive season sale, featuring discounts and cash back offers on gadgets and gizmos, the company said. Paytm averages 2 million transactions a day on the platform on average, he said. The season accounts for around 40 percent of annual sales for the company. Via gadgets.ndtv.com
Tata Motors woos buyers with 100% cashback offers
Mumbai: Tata Motors Ltd is borrowing a trick or two from e-commerce, consumer durable and credit card firms by dangling 100% cashback offers to draw in buyers. On Friday morning, readers of national daily The Times of India woke up to a rather eye-popping advertisement by the company. It read, Cashback bonanza! You almost had to re-read the advertisement to ensure that the cashback offer was indeed on cars and not on refrigerators or television sets. Via livemint.com
From cradle to grave, how e-commerce has changed your life
No business in India in recent years has attracted as much hype around it as e-commerce. It is growing at a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace. There are pots of venture capital money chasing boatloads of startups (despite doubts over valuations). The numbers are staggering: 500-plus startups and Rs 70,000 crore in risky venture money. Companies have realized selling online is the smartest way to reach consumers rapidly. That’s the business side of things. What about us consumers? We have embraced shopping by smartphones with both hands. About 125 million shoppers spent $7 billion in 2014, buying things as diverse as flight tickets and razor blades online. Via economictimes.indiatimes.com
Amazon lines up 1 million products for next-day delivery
Both Amazon and rival Flipkart will have their high-voltage festive sales from October 13 to 17, not only taking on each other but also triggering a backlash from small traders who accuse the deep-pocketed ecommerce companies of using foreign money illegally to fund deep discounts. The Confederation of All India Traders, an association of small traders, wrote to the commerce ministry asking the government to restrict the ecommerce companies from such sales and to check alleged foreign exchange violations by them.
Amazon India has tripled its warehousing capacity to 5 million cubic feet since last Diwali and has lined up 1 million products for next-day delivery as the country’s two largest online retail rivals launch simultaneous five-day sales on Tuesday…. Seattle-based Amazon said it has tied up with about 2,000 small traders such as mom-and-pop stores, bakeries, travel agencies and pharmacists in 50 cities as pick-up points for products and has signed up non-governmental organisations, among others, as last-mile delivery partners.
Amazon operates 21 warehouses in 10 Indian states covering 2 million square feet with storage capacity of 5 million cubic feet, while rival Flipkart has 17 warehouses covering 1.5 million square feet of storage. Via economictimes.indiatimes.com
How Flipkart hopes to shut out rivals by going app-only in India
Today India’s ecommerce leader Flipkart takes a big step toward going app-only. Its five-day Big Billion Day Sale is happening only in its app. In other words, all those juicy discounts to kick off the festival season can’t be accessed on Flipkart’s website or even a mobile browser.
It’s obviously designed to force more customers to download and use the Flipkart app. But why would it do that? Why lose out on sales from customers who might move on to rival site Amazon, which is also holding a Great Indian Festival Sale this week? Why risk spoiling its relationship with consumers who don’t like an app to be forced down their throats?
There are a number of reasons. Via techinasia.com
Upcoming look at online retail trends
Later this week, we’ll be looking at online retail trends and exploring cashback and e-commerce companies across SE Asia and the US.
As always, we’re interested in your news tips, ideas, suggestions for features stories, new technology and markets you’d like us to profile. We’re easy to reach on our contact page or by email to Jeff Domansky, Managing Editor at: mgeditor [AT] cashbackindustry [DOT] news.
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