Flush with funds, Flipkart plans ‘deep discounts’ on smartphones in Big Billion Days sale

Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart will kick-off the festive season with its annual Big Billion Days sale around October 9-10. In its showdown with Amazon Great Indian Sale, Flipkart will offer steep discounts on smartphones during its Diwali sale.

The smartphone segment is the largest e-commerce category in India and it accounts for 55 percent of online shopping in India. Flipkart aims to tap into that market to retain its dominance in online sales. According to Counterpoint Research, Flipkart had a 54 percent share of online sales in the March quarter, followed by Amazon at 30 percent.

The Bengaluru-based e-tailer will launch 20 new models and will try to attract customers that are in favour of offline shopping, not just through ‘deep discounts’ but also by offering services like handset repair at home and record buyback guarantee schemes, Ayyappan Rajagopal, senior director at Flipkart, told The Economic Times.

Of the new launches, 14 models will be in the Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 segment, which accounts for 85 percent of the total unit sales. Flipkart has tripled its inventory and planned to avoid out-of-stock situations.

Phone companies are in sync with Flipkart’s strategy as even the offline-focused brands are hoping to drive up sales through online medium this year and are offering higher discounts.

“Last year during the festive season, Flipkart accounted for one in three smartphones sold in the country. This year, we are aiming at 50 percent share of all smartphones sold in the one month leading to Diwali, starting with Big Billion Days,” he added.

Due to the rising competition, many brands have come on board like Nokia, Oppo’s RealMe, Panasonic, Xiaomi’s Poco, Asus and Infinix, Rajagopalan said.

Newest infusion

The online marketplace arm of Flipkart, Flipkart Internet, received over Rs 3,462 crore from Flipkart Marketplace, Singapore, to provide more ammunition to the company, especially for the upcoming sale.

This year’s competition is set to be even more aggressive as both companies have received significant investments throughout the year to ramp up their product variety and speedy deliveries to its customers.

Flipkart will use this money to go deep into grocery, ticketing and have also been talking about pharmacy, Harish HV, formerly with Grant Thornton, told ET.

Amazon India has received more than $1 billion in its main marketplace unit Amazon Seller Services this year from its parent company.