Although conventional brick-and-mortar retail still rules in India, accounting for 93 percent of a $1.2 trillion industry, ecommerce has exploded in recent years, reaching every nook and corner that physical retail has yet to reach. The development of the marketplace behemoths, namely Amazon India and Flipkart, has also provided customers with access to the broadest possible range of items.
Online purchasing has been boosted even more by an encompassing digital payment infrastructure. And in the last two years, the ‘pandemic surge’ has pumped money into the company’s coffers like never before. Based on the rapid uptake, Inc42 Plus predicted that India’s ecommerce industry will reach $200 billion by 2026, rising at a 19 percent CAGR.
Understandably, the flagship events — the online seasonal sales that take place every year — tend to drive ecommerce to its pinnacle, as Indian customers are always eager to take advantage of the huge discounts on offer. The gross merchandise value (GMV) of online sales in the Christmas season of 2021 increased by 23% to $9.2 billion, up from $7.4 billion the previous year.
The two biggest Indian ecommerce behemoths — Amazon India and Walmart-owned Flipkart — have long fought for dominance in the nation, and there’s no better time than the big fat Indian Christmas season to flex their muscles.
The 7th iteration of Flipkart’s Big Billion Days (BBD) Sale and Amazon India’s 4th edition of The Great Indian Festival (GIF) were scheduled for October 7 and 4, respectively, this year. However, both began on October 3, highlighting the fierce competition for the greatest share of internet customers. In reality, both corporations adjusted the dates many times in order to get an advantage and attract more bargainers, namely internet consumers.
According to a RedSeer research, the Flipkart Group (Myntra and Flipkart) emerged as the leader in gross merchandise value (GMV) during the festive sales of 2021, garnering 62 percent of the market share.
The Big Two’s presence in the Indian market has increased competition, as both have joined the private label sector to boost sales, offered distinctive features and value-added services, and moved into specialized niches to grow their operations.
Flipkart Group, which includes Flipkart (core ecommerce), Myntra (fashion ecommerce), Flipkart Wholesale, Flipkart Health+, Cleartrip (OTA), Shopsy (social commerce), and a controlling investment in payment app PhonePe, has been fast to spread throughout the ecommerce market.
Amazon’s India subsidiary is likewise expanding its service offerings. Amazon India (core ecommerce), Amazon Music (music streaming), Prime Video (OTT video), Amazon Pay (a payment app), and Purplle (retail tech) are among the company’s key businesses, along with a 49 percent stake in More (Aditya Birla Group’s food and grocery chain) and additional investments in MyGlamm (a D2C house of brands), Bankbazaar (lending tech firm), and others.
They’re also fighting hard to improve operational processes, whether it’s fulfillment centers, logistics, or technology.
In summary, there is now a duopoly in the Indian ecommerce industry, while the Christmas sales of 2021 saw a greater number of local firms such as Tata CLiQ, Reliance, and Meesho attempting to make an impression.
However, in this piece, we will just look at the Big Two and how they perform from the standpoint of clients. Inc42 teamed up with AppTweak for the 8th edition of our annual 2021 in Review feature to see how these ecommerce behemoths performed in terms of downloads and comparable views.
