Amazon, Flipkart announce big festive sale: Offer, dates and more

Amazon India competes head-on with rival Flipkart.

New Delhi: E-commerce major Amazon and Flipkart have announced their flagship festive sale in India.

Amazon India, which competes head-on with rival Flipkart, will kick off its flagship 'Great Indian Festival' sale from October 10-15. The e-commerce giant is lining up new launches across various categories and dishing out discount offers to woo Indian shoppers.

Amazon Prime members will have an early access to the offer. Shopping enthusiasts can avail instant discount of 10 percent by using SBI Debit and Credit Cards. They can also get cashback of Rs 300 by topping up their Amazon Pay balance.

Meanwhile, Walmart-backed Flipkart will host its 'The Big Billion Days' festive sale from October 10-14. HDFC users can additionally benefit by using credit and debit cards.

About 20 million people are expected to shop on various e-commerce platforms during the festive sale next month, translating into sales of around USD 3 billion for players like Amazon and Flipkart, according to a report by research firm RedSeer.

Smaller player ShopClues, too, has announced its sale from October 10-November 7 to offer up to 80 per cent discount across fashion and lifestyle, home, kitchen, electronics and accessories categories.

According to the RedSeer report, the share of items like electronics and furniture during the sale could be higher this year due to affordability initiatives being undertaken by the e-commerce players. Mobile phones currently account for a lion's share of sales on the two leading e-commerce platforms.

Like in offline retail, e-commerce companies see a significant jump in sales during Dussehra and Diwali. The September-November period typically generates a majority of the annual sales of these companies, which prepare months in advance for the sale event.

The festive sale not only brings in discounts and deals for customers but is also an annual showdown of sorts between the two largest players -- Flipkart and Amazon India. The competition between Flipkart and US-based Amazon this year is expected to be even fiercer as both companies have invested significantly through the year to ramp up product offerings as well as logistics infrastructure to ensure speedier delivery.

With PTI Inputs