Flipkart has announced its Big Billion Day sale starting 13 October till 17. Amazon has also announced its Great Indian Festive Sale. Interestingly, the date falls between 13 and 17 October. SnapDeal is holding special Monday sales since 28 Sep 2015. It is Sale Time in India with everyone offering a sale. This article talks about What is the Big Billion Sale Days? Have Big Billion Sale Days happened before and How was the experience?E Commerce Market in India,Tips for Big Billion Sale Day, Tips to Avoid Overspending.
What is the Big Billion Sale?
Big Billion Sale are day or days when aim is to sell goods worth 1 billion Indian Rupees within 24 hours. Big Billion Day is equivalent to the popular Black Friday sale that takes place in the US. Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November). Since the early 2000s, it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the US, and most major retailers open very early and offer promotional sales.
The year-end festival season is traditionally India’s busiest buying and gifting time for all things starting from fashion to furniture. Nearly 40 per cent of consumer spending on buying clothes and goods in India takes place between September and December, the festival season that includes Dussehra and Diwali. For online retailers, the festival season represent a big sales surge as Indians are expected to splurge an estimated $6 billion on clothes, electronics and home products, representing a three time jump from last year’s festival season.
Flipkart and Snapdeal in 2014 on such days sold products worth an estimated Rs 600 crore each. Flipkart faced a lot of flak for issues faced by customers during its Big Billion Day sale in Oct 2014 and Flipkart was forced to apologize. But it still sold over 2 million items, and it achieved $100 million in GMV (gross merchandise value) in 10 hours.
- Flipkart has announced its Big Billion Day sale starting 13 October till 17. Exciting offers across 70 product categories will be up for customers in the app-only shopping event.
- 13th – 17th October: Amazing Discounts on all Fashion & Lifestyle Products
- 14th – 17th October: Great Discounts on Home & Kitchen Appliances
- 15th – 17th October: Buy Mobiles at Mind Blowing Prices
- 16th and 17 October: Get BIG Savings on Electronics & Automotive
- 17th October: Books & More
- Amazon India has also announced its Great Indian Festive Sale. Interestingly, the date falls between 13 and 17 October, Unlike Flipkart’s Big Billion Day, which is an app-only shopping event, Amazon India will allow customers access the deal on the web as well. However, it has some special deals for app users like privilege to access the deals 15 minutes before it hits the website and 15% additional cashback for HDFC card users.
- Snapdeal announced that will be holding a special Monday Electronics Sale on 12 Oct where shoppers can avail of discounts across personal devices, home appliances, and electronics.Snapdeal has kicked off the Diwali sale season in earnest with the launch of one-day Snapdeal Preview Monday Sale offering discounts up to 70% in certain categories. It later announced that it had recorded a ten-fold spike in sales that day.
Here’s what you can expect from the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale this year:
- Flipkart is promising an almost glitch-free user experience, a larger inventory going on sale rather than a small number of products going at dirt cheap prices, and a better and quicker delivery experience.
- In terms of deals, expect the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale to offer great deals on select smartphones, big-screen TVs, large appliances, wireless speakers, external hard drives, memory cards, books, computers and laptops, tablets, and other gadgets.
Have Big Billion Sale Days happened before and How was the experience?
On 6 October 2014, Flipkart had it’s Big Billion Day. Amazon India had a Diwali Dhamaka Week that kicked off from 8 October 2014 in India. But they didn’t go down well. Flipkart faced a lot of flak for issues faced by customers during its Big Billion Day sale. Customers complained of cheating on discount, wrong prices, site crashes and several other problems. Flipkart was forced to apologize. But it still sold over 2 million items worth more than 1 billion!
Some products had genuine discounts such as Under the sale, Flipkart offered Nokia 1020 at Rs 19,999 which is about 60 per cent less than its launch price. But for many product it seemed that the discounts were in fact the original price of products. Take for instance the 64GB USB pen drive manufactured by Transcend. The price mentioned is Rs 49,999 , and the device is claimed to be offered for a price of Rs 2,299 which represents a near 95% discount which seems really unrealistic. On an average, a Transcend 64GB pen drive can be purchased for Rs 2,500 flat without discounts from any online (and offline) retailer in India. n another instance, a MacBook Air, after discounts showed a cost of Rs 56,490 on Flipkart, on Big Billion Day. Competitors such as Snapchat offered the same device for Rs 50,000.
Various buyers who ordered products from Flipkart on Big Billion Day reported that their orders were automatically cancelled, with a refund due in the next seven days. Product stocks were displayed as available during the time the user placed his order on Flipkart, which were later cancelled. The same product was seen on sale at a higher price hours later which means they are definitely not out of stock! They took to social media websites to express their dismay over the performance of the Flipkart website during the sale scheme.
E Commerce Market in India
According to a 2014 report by Morgan Stanley, three players have pulled ahead in the online marketplace. Flipkart leads with a 44 per cent share of the $6.3 billion Indian e-commerce market, by Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). Snapdeal is No.2 with 32 per cent share, while Amazon, a late starter in India, launched in June 2013, has 15 per cent. Amazon touched $1 billion in sales in 2014. For the company, India is the fastest-growing international market. India’s e-commerce market, although small in comparison to China’s or the United States’, is expected to rise swiftly to be worth over $32 billion by the end of the decade.
By December, India will have 60 million users buying goods online, 50 per cent more than at the beginning of this calendar year, mainly due to a higher smartphone penetration, improved internet bandwidth and an increasing number of stores’ online presence. Additionally, decision-making on purchase of goods online is increasingly shifting towards the young – the 15-25-year-olds who are comfortable using smartphones and transacting online. Google estimated the total gross merchandise value (GMV) of Indian e-commerce transactions to touch over $10 billion in the year to December 2015, more than twice the $4.5 billion in 2014. The most popular product categories during the Billion Days sale are electronics, computers and accessories, and smartphones. Things that people buy online in India Ref: 2015 State of Industry
Top products sold online
These e commerce companies are not profitable. It is widely believed that Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon burn more than $100 million of cash every month. Flipkart has the highest cash burn rate but then it also raised the largest amount. Snapdeal has raised close to $1 billion in 2014, while Amazon India is backed by a parent which has pledged $2 billion investment in the Indian marketplace. All will probably need even more money. To win market share, all three discount constantly and add to their already humungous losses. Flipkart, in 2013/14, ran losses of Rs 400 crore whereas Snapdeal lost Rs 265 crore, and Amazon Rs 321 crore. Some estimates say
Business Today The battle of the big boys Flipkart vs Snapdeal vs Amazon
Tips for Big Billion Sale Day
Here are some tips to help you sail through the Big Billion Days sale:
- Flipkart Billion Day Sale is going to be available only on Flipkart’s apps. Amazon would offer better options on Apps. Keep your apps updated before to ensure a smooth user experience. Make sure you are on a reliable connection while making a purchase. The biggest deals usually go live on the first day of the Big Billion Days sale so make sure you don’t miss out on those.
- Make a list of products that you’re keen on buying. Browsing promotional sales isn’t a great user experience unless you know what you want. Going through a sale on an app could be painful too. Search for them on the app before you start browsing all items on sale. Keep a wishlist ready on the app to help you out.
- Keep your contact information like delivery addresses and payment information saved. You want faster checkout to ensure a deal doesn’t go out of stock by the time you’re done paying. Keep in mind that e-commerce companies tend to block payment methods like cash on delivery during promotional sales like the Flipkart Big Billion Days.
- Compare before you make a decision. If you come across a deal that’s absolutely worth it, don’t waste time thinking. But if you’re having second thoughts, don’t make a purchase without quickly comparing the prices on other major online retailers like Amazon, Snapdeal and Paytm. The other online stores are also expected to run promotional sales and you might get a better deal there.
- See which credit or debit cards give better deals. For example during Flipkart Big Billion Days sale. example Use credit or debit cards issued by State Bank of India, Citibank and Standard Chartered to get even more discounts and cash back
Tips to Avoid Overspending
With discounts and deals aplenty this festive season one can overspend or spend on things that one doesn’t need. How to avoid it
- Have a plan: Don’t buy for sake of buying. Allocate a realistic sum for festive shopping. Make your shopping list and then divide the total spend among the various items–clothes, shoes, gifts etc or atleast allocate a certain sum towards discretionary spend and put a limit, on any unplanned, impulse spend .
- Don’t get tempted: Try not to spend on arbitrary goods, even if they are available at a discount. While making your shopping list, ensure you include only those things that you really need. Look for deals, for the goods on your shopping list, but be mindful of not splurging on impulse shopping, goaded by discounts. For instance, advertisements like 10% discount on gift shopping of more than 3,000 is so tempting. But 10% of 3000 is Rs 300. Is it a gain of Rs 300 or a loss of Rs 1,200? Don’t go overboard on the amount that you have set? Question your buying decision :is the purchase of value?
- Wait it out: Don’t rush into buying things. Allow the initial excitement around a discount special offer to settle, before you make a purchase. If you were just charmed by some splendid advertising, and didn’t really want a particular item, a little waiting out will break that spell, and you will be glad you didn’t waste your hard-earned money. What seems irresistible at first sight, after a while, quite often, loses its lucre. If you can try writing down three reasons why you need a particular item and why you don’t need it. That can also help you make a more rational decision.
- Opt for cash on delivery The ease of making payment through cards and via the Net can blind one to the fact that he is losing his money. This is especially evident when making online purchases.Plastic money and Net banking are often a big reason why people overspend, say experts. With an avalanche of the hypnotic 50% off, up to 70% off’ ads, there is little the shopper can do, particularly when all it takes to avail of them is just a plastic card. Replace the card with actual fiat money, and the spell breaks. So, it is best to opt for cash on delivery when you order things online. The sight of parting with your money will deter you from ordering things you do not really need.
Amazon, Flipkart and SnapDeal are going to be tempting customers in the Indian online retail market. Do Customer stand to benefit from the big fight of the online retailers? Did you pickup any deals as part of Snapdeal Preview Monday Sale? Are you excited about the Big Billion Sale Days? Will there be online fireworks?
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