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Business: Online buying and selling in the country is no longer dependent only on the festive season. People are now shopping online all year round. However, mobile and electronics accessories still play a significant role in driving sales during the festive season.
India’s online retail sector is now on track to see more balanced demand throughout the year, consulting firm RedSeer said in a report released on Wednesday. Despite this, categories like mobiles and electronics are still dependent on the annual festive boom. This means that mobiles and electronics still determine the pace of sales during festivals.
The report said that the mobile category has the highest volatility related to the festive season, with a seasonal index lag of 1.7. Whereas, electronics products stood second with 1.3. The demand for both these categories is highest in the months of September-October. The monthly index of mobile phones is around 2.3, while that of electronics reaches around 2.0.
Suggestion…different brands can also reduce dependence
The report said that various brands should focus on offering special products or launching promotional campaigns in slack sales periods such as the first quarter of the calendar year to reduce their dependence on the festive season. These companies will be at the forefront in the future… RedSeer said in the report, with the changing times, the online retail business in India is gradually coming out of the peak of festival season. In the future, the market leaders will be only those companies which will be able to handle not only the high festive demand efficiently but will also be able to generate demand during the lean months.
There is no festive effect on the sale of these items
Grocery items, beauty products and personal care categories are said to be the most stable in terms of online sales as demand remains almost the same throughout the year. It is characterized by low-value and frequently purchased products. Fashion categories along with home decor and furniture show moderate seasonal trends. There is a surge in these during the festive months, but the fluctuations are not that much.
Small cities broke records of online shopping
Online shopping of the festive season is no longer limited to just metro cities, but now people of small towns are also doing online shopping extensively. On Diwali, people living in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities have made record-breaking online purchases, leaving behind big cities like Delhi and Mumbai. An analysis of more than 4.25 crore shipments conducted by logistics intelligence platform Clickpost revealed that non-metro cities have now become the new backbone of e-commerce.
According to the report, 50.7 percent of the total orders on Diwali came from tier-3 cities only, while the contribution of tier-2 cities was 24.8 percent. That means the share of small cities in the total online order volume of the country was 74.7%.
Order value also increased
The average order value during festivals this year increased to Rs 4,346, from Rs 3,281 in 2024. That means there has been an increase of 32.5 percent in orders placed from small cities. This shows that customers are now buying not only more but also expensive-premium items.
