Big Billion Days: Walmart-owned Flipkart sees 2 times growth on Day-1

Walmart-owned Flipkart said it had seen 2-fold sales growth on the first day of its 'Big Billion Days (BBD)' sale compared to the opening day of the last year's festive sale. Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said the company had set "audacious targets" internally and "by all indications, this is going to be the biggest festive season that India has witnessed". Compared to last year's day 1 of Big Billion Days sale, Flipkart continues to see higher sales across categories such as fashion, beauty, private labels and furniture this time around. Krishnamurthy said that Flipkart's momentum will only grow stronger as mobiles and electronics sale to open on day 2

Amazon sold Rs 750 Cr worth of smartphones on Day 1 of festival sale

Commenting on the ongoing Big Billion Days sale, this is what he had to say:

"Affordability and value driven themes clearly are the pulsating chords for India and Bharat... Number of transacting customers from tier II and beyond have doubled over last year's BBD sale on day 1," he said. 

Flipkart's Big Billion Days festival sale

Meanwhile, Amazon said it sold Rs 750 Cr worth of smartphones on Day 1 of festival sale. However, both Flipkart and Amazon remained mum on the whole business generated on the first day of the sale. Similar to Amazon Great Indian Festival sale, Flipkart's Big Billion Days festival sale is to close on October 4.  While there have been concerns around a slowdown in demand in some quarters, both Flipkart and Amazon are hoping for significant growth during the ongoing festive sales. According to reports, e-commerce companies including Flipkart and Amazon could ring in close to 5 billion dollars worth of sale this festive season.

Amazon, Flipkart create more than 1.4 lakh jobs ahead of festive sales

E-commerce companies start preparing for festive sales months in advance ramping up logistics and hiring thousands of temporary workers to ensure timely delivery of products. Both Flipkart and Amazon had created more than 1.4 lakh temporary jobs across the supply chain, last-mile connectivity and customer support in preparation for their festive sales. Meanwhile, other players such as Paytm and Snapdeal are also running a festive sale on their platforms. 

Traders body CAIT, however, has alleged that e-commerce portals during the festive sales are causing a loss of revenue to the government by levying GST on the discounted price rather than on the actual market price of the commodity. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in a communication sent to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday charged that the e-commerce companies notably Amazon and Flipkart through their festive sales are depriving the government with a massive amount of GST revenue, a CAIT statement said.

(With PTI inputs)