Criteo, the global technology company powering the world’s marketers with trusted and impactful advertising, today released its Holiday Report 2020 highlighting key trends in the online E-commerce industry in the much-awaited festive season including Raksha Bandhan, Big Billion days and Diwali. The report highlights the top trends observed for the highly thriving E-commerce market in India. Criteo regards this as the ‘Golden Quarter’ of 2020 as e-commerce clocks significantly high growth.
Overcoming such unprecedented times, online retail is back to pre-Covid-19 numbers, and steadily growing upwards since then. As 2020 sales are increasing progressively; 2019 data provides relevant context and describes the strong seasonality expected in coming weeks. According to the report, there has been a 28% year on year increase in the overall online retail sales.
Speaking on the Report, Taranjeet Singh, Managing Director of South East Asia and India, Criteo, said, “During these trying times, the Indian E-commerce industry has been on a steady upward growth trajectory showcasing a gradual shift of consumers towards E-commerce websites for purchases. Consumers have moved onto a stage where purchasing online has become their daily routine in order to fulfil all their demands for food, beverages and festive gifting. Expanding businesses on E-commerce platforms is the need of the hour. This golden quarter signals a revival in demand and consumer sentiment at large on ecommerce platforms.”
With festive season around the corner, the daily sales of flowers, gifts, food and beverages increase manifold. Individually Flowers and Gifting categories witness a boost in their numbers by more than 343% in August 2019, compared to its average in July. Additionally, statistics according to Criteo Holiday Report reveal 70% increase in sales in the Food & Beverage category observed during the festival of Raksha Bandhan. During the time of Big Billion Days on Flipkart, overall, retail sales were up 39%, showcasing an average of 27% for the entire week compared to average in August 2019. As traffic generates more sales the conversion rates remain above usual as sales increase more than traffic during the four weeks leading to Big Billion Days. The report quotes that for every 1,000 visitors to Indian retailers, there are significantly more transactions than usual. The week of Big Billion Days represents e-commerce traffic increased by 19%, followed by sharp rise in sales (+27%).
As people spending most of their time at home, especially during the most anticipated festival like Diwali; the share of transactions completed on App increased consistently before and following the festival in 2019, with an acceleration of In-App sales just before the event. For all retail combined, during the weeks following Diwali, sales remain 6-8% above average in August with a 32% increase in sales in the Food & Beverage category. This festival of Diwali also marks the onset of the travel season with an uplift of bookings to 16% in the week following Diwali.