Amazon Grew 1.5 Times Faster Than Flipkart; Posts 67% Sales Volume Growth!
The US based e-commerce giant has continued to grow at a steady pace compared to its larger rival Flipkart.
In the last few weeks, India’s leading e-commerce portals Amazon and Flipkart have claimed to have done some astonishing business in the last quarter. After Flipkart’s business report, Amazon India is out with their own numbers, where the company says they have seen a 67% rise in sales volume from a year earlier in the September quarter.
The US based e-commerce giant has continued to grow at a steady pace compared to its larger rival Flipkart. The company grew 1.5x times faster than Flipkart, post GST implementation.
Let us take a look at some numbers.
Contents
The GST Hustle
Both Flipkart and Amazon suffered when the government introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) back in July. The e-commerce business in the country grew sharply within the last three months ended in September (the pre-Diwali phase) and registered a significant amount of business in the third quarter, thanks to the festive offers and big discounts.
According to Flipkart, their business grew at around 85% year-on-year (YoY) in terms of Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) in the third quarter. The flagship festive sales events helped the company in achieving a 65-70% growth in the preceding three months.
On the other hand, Amazon India said, they have registered a 72% year-on-year (YoY) growth in terms of their Gross Merchandise Sold (GMS) for the third quarter which ended in September, compared to their 59% growth in the April-June second quarter.
Amazon Vs. Flipkart: Sales Volume Growth
According to the Flipkart Spokesperson, the comparison is baseless, as the Naspers report refers to the January-June period, while the company has grown significantly in the July-September quarter backed by a very strong festive season.
Neither Amazon nor Flipkart has disclosed their exact gross sales figures.
Though the numbers from Amazon indicate that they are successfully fighting with market leader Flipkart, the sales volume has grown considerably from the previous two quarters, as the company grew 85% and 88% respectively.
Festive Sales Ruled The Third Quarter
Amazon has shown an impressive growth and has rapidly expanded in the Tier II and Tier III cities in the last one year. It presently has a wide base in the country compared as to last year.
In the Festive period, Flipkart outplayed Amazon with their annual Big Billion Days sale and generated a gross sales of around Rs. 5,000 crore with the Big Billion Days sale. In the same period, Amazon generated gross sales of around Rs. 2,500 – 2,700 crore with their Great Indian Festival sale.
Though Amazon has repeatedly disputed that Flipkart lags behind and has consistently claimed to have stayed ahead of Flipkart in terms of app downloads, web visits and mobile website visits.
Prime Played A Major Role
For Amazon, their Prime subscription service played an important role for their growth especially in top-tier cities in the country. Till today, Prime accounts for at least a third of all the orders placed on Amazon.
Amazon had also hosted their very first Prime Day sale in India back in July.
The Indian E-Commerce Industry
The ecommerce industry in the country saw a sharp fall post GST, but kept growing at 40-42% in the next three quarters in terms of gross sales.
It is expected to continue growing at around 50% in the ongoing October-December fourth quarter, as the companies are getting ready for the Winter and Post-Festive Sales.
Turning Tables
Flipkart continues to lead in terms of market share, but the gap with Amazon is inching closer. Flipkart has seen a drop in their smartphone sales in the last three quarters, where, at the same time, Amazon has seen a sharp rise in the same category.
Flipkart needs to keep channelising as Amazon is heading close to the top, and the competition in the coming months will be more fierce!
