E-retailers set to woo with mega-deals this Diwali

Leading online retailers such as Flipkart and Amazon along with niche segment players like FabFurnish and Bluestone are ready to attract more hits around the festive season of Diwali with various initiatives. They have lined up special catalogues, exclusive products, mega deals and offers,

contests and lucrative discounts to make the most out of the opportunity.

Deals and discount crackers

Fashion portal Myntra, will offer more than 5,000 new products from top brands like FCUK, UCB, Elle, SuperDry, Biba, FabIndia and Antony Moratto. Leading online marketplace Snapdeal.com is working with brands across categories like fashion, electronics and home products to offer special merchandise and offers for the season ahead. Flipkart is ready to attract customers with exclusive products and discounts while its competitor Amazon plans to introduce drone delivery service in the country, as it expects lot of first time shoppers to buy online for Diwali season. Experts say that four to five weeks prior to Diwali is the busiest shopping season and brings the largest sales pie for online sites.

Riding high on the success of its private labels like Roadster and Dressberry, Myntra is ready to add three more private brands to the existing portfolio of eight before Diwali. And continuing with its agenda of bringing foreign fashion brands to India, the fashion e-tailer will also launch brands like New Look and Antony Morato by the end of September. A celebrity designed and endorsed women’s wear label on the lines of HRX by Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan is also in the pipeline.

Funding, global brands boost festive spirit

Moving a step further, with capital reservoir of Flipkart, Myntra is also aiming to achieve 1 billion dollars (over Rs 6,000 crores) gross merchandise value in 2016. To reach its goal, the platform would join hands with 20 brands to launch their product lines exclusively on its platform in October. The company has tied up with brands like Puma, Vero Moda, Jack and Jones, Biba, Lee and Wrangler, among others, to launch over 1,000 styles around the festive season to attract attention and increase sales.

With Flipkart raising 1 billion dollars (over Rs 6,000 crores) through the latest funding round and ecommerce giant Amazon.com announcing another investment of 2 billion dollars (over 12,000 crores) in India, the third leading Indian marketplace Snapdeal.com too has got a much required capital dose from none other than Ratan Tata.

No wonder these companies are going all out to grab a pie of the demanding and lucrative e-commerce market. Festive season, ending with the holiday season in December, would be the best opportunity for them. And they are doing it by investing in new styles, fresh appeal, prompt service, private fashion brands as well as foreign fashion labels.

Estimated at 2.3 billion dollars (about Rs 13,900 crores) at present, online retail accounts for just 0.4 percent of the overall retail market in India, says retail advisory firm Technopak. By 2019, the e-tail market is expected to reach between 19 billion dollars (over Rs 1,14,000 crores) to 38 billion dollars (over Rs 2,29,000 crores), accounting for 2 percent to 4 percent of the overall retail industry.