With Amazon Great India Festival and Flipkart Big Billion Days kicking off with much fervour, the e-commerce giants have released some interesting figures. Surprisingly, most of the customers were from non-metro cities, according to all major e-tailers.
Amazon revealed that more than 80 per cent of its customers were from non-metro cities during the opening days of its Great Indian Festival, while Flipkart said over 60 per cent of its orders were from Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities on October 7, which was the early access day for Plus customers.
Meesho, which is funded by SoftBank, said customers from tier 2 and small cities contributed to 80 per cent of its orders on the first three days of its Blockbuster Sale.
Amazon said it recorded 9.5 crore customer visits in the first 48 hours while Flipkart claimed it saw 9.1 crore visits on Day 1 of its sale fest. Smartphones were top choices for customers on both e-commerce websites with launch of new models and price reduction in the old ones.
Amazon said OnePlus, Samsung, and Apple were the most sold smartphone brands. "Customers purchased more than 100 OnePlus smartphones every minute in the first 48 hours of the sale (2.5 times more than in 2022). Samsung drove premium phone demand, with their flagship Galaxy S Series growing 3 times over the last year," the company stated, adding that its Prime customers ordered more than 75 smartphones per second in the opening hour.
Pointing out a rise in demand for premium gadgets in the first 48 hours, Amazon said premium smartphones priced above Rs 30,000 grew thrice compared to 2022 while tablets saw twice the growth. Demand for premium smartwatches jumped over 35 per cent against the previous year while laptops saw 40 per cent more sales year-on-year.
"4 out of every 5 smartphones sold in the first 48 hours were 5G ready. Amongst all smartphones sold, 75 per cent were purchased by customers coming from Tier 2 -3 cities and towns and beyond," it added. "10 Premium active noise cancelling headphones were bought by customers every minute.”
Amazon added that large-screen TVs 260 per cent more sales compared to last year. "Customers shopped for one TV per second with 80 per cent of all orders coming from Tier 2 and 3 cities and towns. 4K TVs were the most preferred," the company stated.
Flipkart said mobiles, appliances, lifestyle, beauty and general merchandise, electronics and home products saw most orders across the country.
"Smartphones in the over Rs 20,000 segment witnessed a surge in demand among Metro and Tier 2 and beyond audiences alike. Further, Lifestyle, Electronics and Beauty and General Merchandise(including Fitness) have played a key role in new customer acquisition," the statement said.
Flipkart's offers for flight tickets via Cleartrip saw more customers choosing Goa, Kochi, Jaipur, Srinagar and Chandigarh as top air travel destinations.
Meesho registered over 15 orders per second across various categories and sarees, watches, Bluetooth headphones and toys were top-sellers. "More than 30,000 sellers saw over 2X growth in orders during the onset of the sale," Meesho spokesperson said.