India continues to shop steadily through the first phase of festive season sales

8th October 2024, New Delhi: With the first ten days of the sale season complete, the e-commerce volumes are 16% higher as compared to the previous year (26th Sep. – 5th Oct. 2024 vs. 7th – 16th Oct. 2023). The GMV is also higher by 17% in the same period.

This analysis is based on over 2.8 million order items processed on Unicommerce’s platform during the ten day period for both years.

The growth is driven, amongst others, by categories like healthy snacks & eatables which grew by over 65% YoY, kitchenware which grew 34% in order volumes this year and apparel which witnessed over 22% rise in order volumes during this period.

With Navratri festivities commencing, other categories like home decor, travel accessories, and electronics & gaming accessories recorded a significant YoY 100%+ jump in order volumes during this period.

The sale trends showcase an evolving category mix as consumers explore segments other than the regular festive purchases like ethnic wear and traditional clothes, electronics, gift items etc during the sale period.

Over the past few years, the festive sales season has started to kick off sooner. While previously, the sales started with the commencement of Navratri festivities, the trend has shifted towards launching sales a few days earlier, with the sales then continuing through the festive season till Diwali and beyond.

With the growing participation of shoppers across the vast length and breadth of India, brands and marketplaces rely on technology to efficiently handle the surge in orders on account of festive sales. Unicommerce’s 250+ plug-and-play integrations across marketplaces & carts, logistics service providers and ERPs help in efficient processing and shipping of orders and also enables optimal utilization of inventory across dispersed warehouses and multiple marketplaces and brand-owned sales channels.

Beyond the metro cities, Unicommerce’s data shows Tier II cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Surat and Patna and Tier III cities like Kolar, Alwar, Kamrup, Sonipat and Gandhinagar as leading online markets by order volumes in the 2024 festive season sales.