Meesho records 68% jump in festive sales with 3.34 crore orders

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Softbank-backed e-commerce platform Meesho claims to have recorded 68 per cent jump in sales during its five-day festive season sale with around 3.34 crore orders, the company said on Thursday. The Meesho Mega Blockbuster Sale was live from September 23-27.

The unicorn e-commerce firm said nearly 60 per cent of all orders came from Tier 4 cities and transacting users witnessed a 60 per cent jump during the sale, which included those who were new-to-ecommerce and were shopping online for the first time. "Customers placed a record around 3.34 crore orders during the five-day event, up 68 per cent from previous year's sale, shopping for a wide assortment of products at lowest prices," Meesho said in a statement.

The company received orders from Una in Himachal, Chimakurthy in Andhra Pradesh, Kalimpong in West Bengal, Bharuch in Gujarat and Leh and other small towns and cities. "Over 80 per cent of orders during the festive sale came from tier 2 and beyond markets, which is a testament to our efforts to reach underserved users with different needs around selection and affordability," Meesho, founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey said.

Meesho started zero per cent seller commission initiative, which helped in digitisation of micro, small and medium enterprises and helped save Rs 104 crore in commissions during the sale period. The company said that overall, seller participation in Meesho's festive sale increased 4 fold from last year, with around 75 per cent coming from Tier 2 and beyond markets. Nearly 20,000 sellers recorded sales of over a lakh and 24 sellers in crore during the sale event.

"We aim to go deeper into India's underserved regions. We are delighted by the success witnessed by small businesses on Meesho during the festive season. Our endeavour to build a platform that enables high growth for MSMEs is being further strengthened," Aatrey said. During this year's sale, 'kitchen utilities' was the top growth category at Meesho which recorded a 116 per cent increase in sales. Beauty and personal care grew by 109 per cent, luggage and travel accessories grew by 99 per cent

The top-selling categories included fashion, home and kitchen, electronic accessories and beauty and personal Care. The company shared that Meesho's Maha Diwali Sale will be live between October 7 and 11. "With nearly 8 lakh sellers and around 6.5 crore active product listings across 30 categories, Meesho aims to become the preferred shopping destination of the next billion Indians," the statement said.