Two of the most awaited sales events each year for Indian buyers are The “Great Indian Festival” sale by Amazon and “The Big Billion Days” sale by Flipkart. Both e-commerce giants have garnered incredible customer engagement over the past few years with their iconic end-of-the-year sales events. 2022 was no different for both Amazon and Flipkart.
Each year, the festive season fills the markets in India. This time of year, people are in the buying and gifting mood, and since Indian buyers love a good discount, retailers offer seasonal discounts and schemes to bring in customers. Keeping this in mind, Amazon and Flipkart kicked- off their sales event on 23rd September to the expecting online buyers.
The Great Indian Festival Sale
Amazon is one of the biggest online markets globally and is a popular e- place to shop for Indian buyers. Amazon has good deals all year round, but the “Great Indian Festival” is an event buyer excitedly look forward to each year.
After lots of pre-sale advertising, Great Indian Festival 2022 went live on September 23rd, 2022, to the awaiting audience. Prime members could access the event on September 22nd, 2022, one day before the public.
The list of brands that have offers at the festival is considerable. Following noteworthy sales events like the Prime- Day Sale and the Amazon Great Freedom Sale of 2022, the Great Indian Festival will go on during October, and will end on October 23rd, 2022.
Amazon’s sponsors for this season include brands like Samsung, Techno, and iQoo. Amazon has several exciting offerings this season, and buyers will get discounts on 15 Cr+ products available on the platform in various categories. Amazon has launched over 1500 products across categories, including much-awaited smartphones- Redmi 11 Prime 5G, iQoo Z6 Lite 5G, iPhone 14 series, OnePlus 10R, TVs- Hisense 120Hz QLED, XIAOMI 5X series, and Acer H Series.
During the Great Indian Festival, Amazon buyers can avail following discounts:
- 40% off on Smartphones and Accessories
- 70% off on Kitchen Accessories
- 50-60% off on Electronic Appliances
- 70% on Office Supplies
- 40-60% off on Pantry Products
- Up to 50% off on Industrial Supplies, Hardware, and MRO Supplies
- Up to 40% off on Office and Home Cleaning Products
- Up to 60% off on Beauty and Grooming Products
- Up to 40-80% off on smartwatches and bands
- Up to 80% off on Cameras
- Up to 65% off on Televisions
Buyers who have debit credit cards with SBI, Axis Bank, Citi, and ICICI, can enjoy a 10% instant discount (up to Rs. 7,500), and on UPI transactions of Rs. 500 or above, users will get an instant Rs. 50 cashback. Along with these, there are offers for Amazon Pay and Amazon Prime users. Exchange offers, and no-cost EMI option are also available for buyers.
It is also a good chance for business owners who want to bulk up on their office supplies with the discount offers. During the Great Indian Festival Amazon is giving up to 28% off with GST invoices.
The Big Billon Days Sale
Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce giant, also launched its Big Billion Days sale on 23rd September to its customers. Flipkart has the reputation of being one of the leading shopping platforms in India, and with its Big Billion Days sales, it certainly generated a lot of customer engagement this festive season as well.
This year’s sponsor for Big Billion Days sales were Noise, Asus, and Poco, and these companies showcased some of their popular and new items for customers. Flipkart had good discounts on Poco F4, Pixel 6a, Poco X4 Pro 5G, Oppo Reno 8, Motorola Edge 30, Realme 9 5G, Poco C31, Vivo T1 5G and Samsung F13. For smartphone enthusiasts, iPhone 14 was also available on the platform with discounted prices, along with Google Pixel 6a, Google Pixel 6a, Realme C2, Realme 3, Realme 5, Realme 3 Pro and Realme 5 Pro. Smart-phone companies like Motorola and Lenovo also offered Motorola One Action, Motorola One Vision, Lenovo Z6 Pro, Lenovo K10 Note and Lenovo K9 phones. HONOR 8X, HONOR 9N, HONOR 10 lite and HONOR 20i with up to 47% discount. Blaupunkt TVs were available at a starting price of 5,999, IFFALCON Smart LED TVs with up to 60% discount, with other Smart TV brands taking part in the sale as well. Flipkart also offered up to 40 percent off on gaming laptops and up to 80 percent off on monitors and printers.
The discounts offered by the platform were across all categories. Under the section “TBBD Specials, customers had access to a unique collection of products this year with many firsts in market innovations. There were 130 Special Edition Collectibles from over 90 brands, with 10,000+ new products.
Although the sale started on the 23rd, Flipkart Plus members had the advantage of accessing it a day earlier than everyone else. Customers with ICICI and Axis bank cards also enjoyed 10% instant discount.
The Big Billions Days sale closed on 30th September, 2022, seeing a lot of engagement.
Currently, Flipkart users are enjoying the Diwali sale on the platform that started on 19th October and will conclude on 23rd October, along with the Great Indian Festival sale.
The Great Indian Festival Sale vs Big Billion Days Sale: Which one was better?
Both Amazon and Flipkart saw a tremendous amount of engagement this year. But, while Flipkart concluded its Big Billion Days sale on 30th September, Amazon’s Great Indian Festival is still going and getting a lot of customers. Both of the sales generated a lot of buzz, and business.
Some Facts:
● Amazon sold around 10 lakh unique products during the first 36 hours of the festive season sale. The platform expanded its four-hour delivery service for Prime Users to 50 cities across India from 14.
● Total number of prime subscribers increased by 1.9 time compared to last year, 68% of the sign-ups being from Tier-2 and Tier- 3 cities.
● Amazon Business saw 50% growth in customers. Compared to last year, Amazon saw a 100% increase in orders, and a 200% increase in sales.
● Flipkart reportedly recorded around 1.6 Mn concurrent users per second on its first day of sale.
● Compared to last year, a record number of Flipkart plus users accessed the early sale, with most of these customers being from Tier-2 cities and above.
● Flipkart’s pay later EMI option saw a 12x growth on the first day of the sale.
● In the year 2021, total sales generated by Amazon and Flipkart were almost 90% of the total sales during the festive season. This year it’s expected to reach $11.8 Bn.
Conclusion
Both Amazon and Flipkart generated a lot of business in this year’s sales, much like previous years. Amazon’s Great Indian Festival is still on, and generating business, while Flipkart concluded it’s Big Billion Days sale on 30th September. Flipkart Diwali sale is going on right now and generating a lot of engagement as well. While both platform are at a close competition in terms of total business-generated around year, Amazon’s Great Indian Festival, simply based on its duration, has seen more business this year. However, it is still a tough question to answer, as there are a lot of factors to keep in mind.
