E-commerce order volume grows 20% in first 4 days of holiday season sales

3 minutes of reading Last update: October 1, 2024 | 19:47 IST

The e-commerce festival sales season is off to a strong start.

According to e-commerce technology firm Unicommerce, order volumes increased by 20 percent in the first four days of the 2024 sale (September 26-29) compared to the first four days of last year. Last year, the festival started on October 7.

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During the same period, gross merchandise value (GMV) also increased by 24 percent compared to last year.

Unicommerce, an e-commerce SaaS platform, analyzed over 1.3 million order items processed through its platform in the first days of sales.

“Festival season sales have become an exciting phase of the year when everyone waits for attractive offers and a wide range of products,” said Kapil Makhija, Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Unicommerce.

He added: “While this trend continues year on year, we are seeing an increasing number of brands participating in the sale season. This confirms India’s status as a digitally progressive country.”

Some product categories that saw significant volume growth were fashion and accessories, which grew by over 32%. There was high demand for products such as travel accessories, watches and children’s clothing.

During this festival sale, makeup products saw an impressive 54% year-on-year (YoY) growth.

In the health and pharmaceutical segment, which recorded a significant 33% increase in volumes last year, the highest demand was for nutraceuticals and fitness supplements.

Despite only modest volume growth, the home furnishings category saw an impressive 50 percent increase in GMV compared to last year. This proves a significant increase in consumer appetite for higher value purchases in the interior design and furnishings segment.

Other products that were in high demand during this period included phone accessories, books, sports and fitness products, and healthy snacks.

The increase in both volume and value underlines the strong start to sales in the season.

Many more sale days are planned during the festival season in October 2024 to celebrate Navratri, Dussehra, Karva Chauth, Diwali, Bhaiya Dooj and other celebrations.

Amazon Great Indian Festival (AGIF), which kicked off on September 27 and provided Prime members with 24-hour early access, witnessed the largest-ever opening for sellers and brand partners.

The company said the first 48 hours of AGIF 2024 were the best ever with nearly 110 million customer visits and over 8,000 sellers with sales of over Rs 1 lakh.

Customers gained access to over 25,000 new products in various categories. These include laptops, TVs, fashion and beauty, home decor, household appliances, furniture, smartphones and food products of the best brands.

E-commerce company Myntra also hosts the Big Fashion Festival.

With 120 million visitors in early access and day one, Myntra observed that customers showed high purchasing intensity across core fashion and emerging categories.

At the start of the sale event, Myntra witnessed 15 times new users joining the platform as standard operation (BAU). There was a twofold increase in peak OPM (orders per minute) compared to last year, during the opening hour of the event.

E-commerce company Flipkart recorded 330 million combined user visits during early access and day one during its Big Billion Days (BBD) 2024 sales event.

BBD took place on September 27 and early access started on September 26 for Flipkart VIP and Plus customers.

First publication: October 1, 2024 | 17:34 IST