Non-metro cities lead online festival sales on Amazon, Meesho, and Flipkart

In the early days of the online festival season sales, non-metro cities took the lead on prominent e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Meesho, and Flipkart, as disclosed by these companies on Tuesday.

Meesho, backed by Softbank, reported that more than 80 per cent of orders during its Blockbuster Sale came from tier 2 and smaller cities in the first three days. On the first day of The Big Billion Days, Flipkart recorded over 60 per cent of orders from non-metro cities.

Citywise e-commerce trends

Flipkart noted that over 60 per cent of orders were placed from Tier 1, 2, and 3 cities on October 7.

Amazon stated that over 80 per cent of its initial Great Indian Festival customers were from non-metro cities.

Flipkart claimed 9.1 crore visits on Day 1 of The Big Billion Days (TBBD), while Amazon registered 9.5 crore customer visits in the first 48 hours. Both platforms saw mobile phones as a top choice for customers.

Festive season mobile sales

According to Amazon, the most popular smartphone brands on its platform were OnePlus, Samsung, and Apple. The company reported that more than 100 OnePlus smartphones were purchased every minute in the first 48 hours of the sale, which was 2.5 times more than in 2022. Samsung experienced a 3-fold growth in demand for their flagship Galaxy S Series compared to the previous year.

Amazon's Prime members shopped 18 times more in the first 24 hours of the sale compared to their average daily purchases. Prime members purchased over 75 smartphones per second in the opening hour.

Amazon highlighted that 4 out of every 5 smartphones sold in the first 48 hours were 5G-ready, and 75 per cent of these purchases came from Tier 2-3 cities and beyond. Premium smartphones (priced above Rs 30,000) saw three-fold growth compared to the previous year.

Premium gadget demand

During the festive sale, Amazon saw increased demand for premium gadgets, with a 35 per cent increase in premium smartwatch purchases in the first 48 hours. Customers were buying 10 premium active noise-canceling headphones every minute.

The sale also saw a 2-fold growth in tablet demand and over 40 per cent growth in laptop demand compared to the previous year. Large-screen TV demand saw a record year-on-year growth of 260 per cent, with 80 per cent of orders coming from Tier 2 and 3 cities and towns. 4K TVs were the most preferred option.

Flipkart revealed that Mobiles, Appliances, Lifestyle, Beauty and General Merchandise, Electronics, and Home were the top choices for customers across India. There was increased demand for smartphones in the over Rs 20,000 segment, both in metro and Tier 2 cities and beyond.

Flipkart's travel subsidiary, Cleartrip, noted customer interest in travelling to non-metro cities like Goa, Jaipur, Udaipur, Varanasi, and Ooty, with Goa, Kochi, Jaipur, Srinagar, and Chandigarh being the top air travel non-metro destinations.

Non-metro shopping surge

More than 80 per cent of orders on the platform came from tier 2 and smaller cities in India, including places like Dhanbad, Chittorgarh, Erode, Jabalpur, Kurnool, Tezpur, and Vapi. The platform saw more than 15 orders per second in various categories, including footwear, fashion accessories, home, and kitchen products, a Meesho spokesperson told PTI.

E-commerce companies are estimated to have generated approximately Rs 40,000 crore in sales during the first phase of the festive season. According to a recent report by a market research firm, online sales during the upcoming festive season are projected to grow by 18-20 per cent, reaching Rs 90,000 crore this year.