E-comm wars: Flipkart sells more units than Amazon India in first 12 hours

The battle for market leadership between Flipkart and Amazon India intensified over the weekend, as the two players looked to outdo each other to emerge as the winner during the festive sales in 2016.
In the first 12 hours of sale, which started on October 2, Flipkart claimed victory over Amazon in terms of units sold. A company spokesperson said that "Flipkart and Myntra together sold 2.25 million units in the first 12 hours of the Big Billion Days."

This against Amazon India, whose sale started on October 1, claiming that it sold 1.5 million units in the first 12 hours of its Great Indian Festival Sale.

Also read: Flipkart, Amazon fight for top place, but flagship events may fail to keep sales flying high

None of the players disclosed their gross merchandise value (GMV), which would give a clear idea about who registered more sales.

Flipkart had tweeted earlier during the day that it sold 1.2 million units in less than 12 hours. But when contacted, a company spokesperson said that these numbers were just for the first 8 hours.

Combined, both Flipkart & Amazon India saw more than 3.73 million units sold in the first 12 hours as compared to 3.1 million shipments on special sale days in October 2015, according to data from RedSeer.

The scramble between the two players only represents heightening tensions, as Flipkart looks to engineer a turnaround, as ET reported earlier. Establishing market leadership in this sale is critical for the Bengaluru-based e-tailer, even as it has entered talks with Wal-Mart for a stake sale.

Also Read: Inside Flipkart's big transformation as it fights to keep numero uno status in India's e-tail war

But Amazon India may still trump Flipkart, as it bets on bigger collection of 80 million products listed on the platform as compared to latter’s catalogue of over 40 million.

"Day 2 is shaping up to be even better than Day 1 in terms of number of sales. We have never experienced 100,000 units sold in half an hour," said Manish Tiwary, Vice President of Category Management, Amazon India. "In terms of units sold, apparel and grocery have the largest share, because they have the lower ASP (average selling price). In terms of gross merchandise, it will be smartphones and TVs," he added.

Amazon India also said that it saw a 5 times increase in new customer acquisitions, with close to 70% of the sales coming from smaller towns.

Amazon Fashion saw a growth 6-7x growth over non-sale days, FMCG category saw a 10x growth. Smartphones and consumer electronics witnessed a 7 times growth, while large appliances washing machine, air conditioners and TV sales saw a spike of 19-20x over usual business.

Flipkart said that it sold more Apple watches in 10 minutes than the total sale of Apple watches online and offline in a month. It also sold more large size LED TVs (40 inch and above) in 6 hours as compared to total number of TV’s sold during the Big Billion Days 2015. Over 40% of customers who shopped for home appliances availed product exchange, the statement said.

Myntra said it clocked over 3 times more revenue in the first hour compared to 2015 edition of Big Billion Days (BBDs). A Flipkart spokesperson said Myntra sold over 250,000 units in first 12 hours of sale.

Also read: Snapdeal, Flipkart hike ad rates for festive season

“The Big Billion Days, like every year, has now set a new landmark in the history of commerce in the country. What makes it (BBDs) special is that the number of units sold in the first 6 hours of sale surpassed the total units sold in a day during the first day of The Big Billion Days in 2015!,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, head of category design organization at Flipkart.