Paytm Mall Claims 20% Share Of Online Festive Sales; But Numbers Don’t Add-up!

Now, as the peak festive sales of Dusshera and Diwali are over for e-commerce portals, claims and counterclaims have started to surface on the horizon.

After both Flipkart and Amazon claimed that they had the ‘biggest’ and ‘greatest’ festive sales ever, new entrant Paytm Mall has claimed that they cornered 20% of overall festive sales on e-commerce.

If this claim is true, then Paytm Mall accounted between $400 to $600 million worth of sales this festive season, as the industry estimates that total of $2.8-2.9 billion worth of products were sold in this period (September 20th to October 20th)

However, it seems that the numbers don’t match up here, as analysts and observers are skeptical over Paytm’s claim of glory.

We try to find out the truth.

Paytm Mall: We Grabbed 20% Of Festive Sales!

Paytm Mall, which debuted around 6 months back, has claimed to give a good fight to both Flipkart and Amazon India during the peak festive season sale in India, between September 20th and October 20th.

As per Paytm’s own admission, they grabbed 15-20% market share this festive season, which is phenomenal record to say the least. No other e-commerce portal has ever claimed such massive market share, within a year of their entry.

Maybe Paytm wallet’s own customer base helped them to achieve these numbers, and maybe Paytm Mall’s focus on offline merchants is paying dividends?

Paytm Mall’s chief operating officer Amit Sinha said,

“Moreover, our O2O model will lead to a month-on-month increase in retailers on board, thereby causing an increase in acquisition of customers”, adding, “People shop less post-Diwali season, but that will not impact our business since it is a horizontal platform selling products with repeat purchases as well..”

But Numbers Don’t Add-up!

Although we respect Paytm’s claim of glory this festive season, the numbers aren’t adding up.

Let us explain how.

The industry is agreeing that this festive season, which is between October 20th and September 20th, approximately $2.8-2.9 billion of sales was conducted, via e-commerce.

Now, Flipkart has claimed to grab 58% market share this festive season, and an increase of 4X in festive shopping on their portal.

On the other hand Amazon India has claimed that this festive season was their biggest ever sales, and have reported that they have grabbed 44% market share.

This means between Flipkart and Amazon, almost 100% of festive season sales have materialized. We understand that this is highly impossible, and hence, leave 5% for other e-commerce players, which also includes Shopclues, Mydala and other coupon based e-commerce portals.

Within this equation, Paytm Mall’s claim of grabbing 15-20% share seems doubtful.

An unnamed analyst has said that Paytm Mall maybe generated sales of $200 million, especially in the laptops and smartphones category.

He said, “The two categories customers were comfortable buying on Paytm Mall were smartphones and laptops and only if there were good enough cashback offers. You don’t see customers opting for Paytm Mall if the cashback option isn’t available.”

None the less, Paytm Mall has been able to make a solid dent in their first ever festive sales, and if trends are to be believed, then in coming days they can pose a good fight to both Amazon and Flipkart,.

Which e-commerce portal did you choose this festive season? Amazon, Flipkart or Paytm Mall? Do let us know your choice by commenting right here!