Flipkart’s Big Billion Day Sale 2015 Will Be App-Only This Year; Litmus Test For App-Only Model!

Flipkart has announced that their Big Billion Sale would be repeated this year; but there is a twist. Only those customers who are on their mobile app are eligible to shop. Desktop users have been excluded from participating from this mega sale.

The performance of this Big Billion Sale, which is app-only this year, can be the litmus test for Flipkart’s theory of becoming app-only shopping portal. In July this year, Flipkart had given hints that they may close down their desktop website, and focus solely on their application.

The Big Billion Day sale this year would be conducted between October 13 and October 17, making it a 5 day e-shopping carnival. Last year, they conducted this sale only for one day.

Flipkart said in a release, “Celebrating the start of festive season in India, Big Billion Days will be the ultimate shopping event for customers to shop for gifts and other items for friends and family,”

Mukesh Bansal, Head of Commerce Platform, Flipkart & Chairman of Myntra, said, “Bigger and better as compared to last year, we have worked towards ensuring a seamless shopping experience for our customers,”

Considering that Myntra is already an app-only shopping portal, it would be kind of routine sale campaign for them. But for Flipkart, a lot will depend on the performance and results of this app-only festival sale.

Although there has been no official confirmation, but insider reports suggest that Myntra’s sale have considerably gone down, ever since they ditched their desktop and mobile websites.

The Big Billion Sale: Will There Be Chaos Again?

Instead of a one day affair, Big Billion sale would be bigger this time, as the sale-carnival extends for 5 days between October 13^th and October 17^th. More than 70 product categories would be available for customers to choose from, with extra discounts on apparels, footwear, mobiles, furniture, laptops, toys, large appliances, jewelry, watches and home furnishings and more.

However, if we recall the experience of last year’s Big Billion sale, then all we can remember is chaos. Product prices fluctuated like share prices, and orders were incomplete for thousands of customers. Website hanged a lot, and the overall experience of loyal customers was dismal.

Such was the backlash on social media and blogs, that Flipkart founders had to come out, and apologize for the glitches and mayhem. And it was only a one day affair last year!

However, from business point of view, Flipkart was able to hit a home run last year, as they clocked $100 million worth of sales within 10 hours of the opening. Going by the same yardstick, it would be ‘atleast’ $500 million or Rs 3200 crore worth of sales which Flipkart must be looking forward to, this year.

But again, desktop and mobile both users were on their shopping festival last year; and this year, it would be only app users.

Dussera-Diwali season is a $6 billion (Rs 38,000 crore) market for ecommerce companies this year, and Flipkart has made clear about their intentions. It would be interesting to observe how Amazon, Snapdeal and other ecommerce portals plan out their strategy.

After all, as per a research, ecommerce companies are able to garner almost 50% of their annual sales during this festive season between October to December.

The war has just begun..

Do you think that excluding desktop users from their Big Billion Sale, Flipkart has made a mistake? Or this gamble will pay off? Do share your views by commenting right here!