What’s the Story?

India-based online marketplace Flipkart, majority owned by Walmart, held its annual flagship shopping event on October 3–10, 2021. The eighth edition of Big Billion Days (BBD) was two days longer than last year’s six-day festival.

The event, which was initially announced by Flipkart as beginning on October 7, was brought forward in the interest of millions of sellers, artisans and kiranas (small neighborhood stores) to help them revive and revitalize their businesses following the impacts of the pandemic, according to the company. When announcing the revised dates of the event, Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy stated that the company decided to make BBD bigger “for all stakeholders to make a deep positive impact on their lives,” and said that the move was Flipkart “standing true to its values of audacity, action-biased and customer-centricity.”

We present key highlights from this year’s BBD shopping festival, covering Flipkart programs and partnerships, seller growth, product deals and more.

Why It Matters

E-commerce platforms such as Flipkart, Amazon and Myntra (Flipkart’s online fashion platform) hold shopping festivals and sale events to showcase new launches and offer big discounts to attract shoppers during the festive season of Navratri and Diwali—the largest religious festivals across India. Flipkart’s “Big Diwali Sale” is taking place from October 17 to 23, 2021, and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival Sale 2021 is ongoing, having begun on October 3, 2021, with no end date specified.

The e-commerce companies drive a significant chunk of their annual businesses from festive season sales; they make huge investments to ramp up their infrastructure and supply chain ahead of shopping events and offer a lending hand to sellers and a seamless shopping experience to their customers.

Big Billion Days 2021: Coresight Research Analysis

BBD 2021 brought millions of sellers, micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), kiranas (neighborhood stores), brands and consumers together. Ahead of the event and the upcoming festive season, Flipkart undertook several initiatives to bolster its infrastructure, including increasing its seller base, ramping up its supply chain and strengthening its last-mile delivery through kiranas and expanding its hyperlocal arm, Flipkart Quick, to 14 Indian cities. To know more about Flipkart’s preparations for this year’s BBD, please read our Big Billion Days 2021 Preview.

At the start of BBD 2021, early access for Flipkart Plus customers (Flipkart’s loyalty program) saw 40% year-over-year growth, according to Flipkart. The company reported on October 3, 2021, that 45% of customer demand had been from Tier 3 cities and beyond, and that more than 2 million customers pre-booked around 5 million products prior to early access by paying just ₹1 ($0.01). Flipkart did not report total sales for the event.

[caption id="attachment_134671" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Source: Flipkart[/caption]  

Flipkart reported the following key metrics regarding seller participation in BBD 2021:

• Sellers from 124 new town/cities transacted in the first 24 hours of BBD 2021.
• The event saw 55% growth in new sellers compared to last year, with 57% from Tier 2, Tier 3 and smaller towns and cities.
• The total number of transacting sellers (comprising MSMEs, artisans, weavers and craftsmen) was 1.3 times higher than BBD 2020.
• More than 10% of sellers witnessed 3X growth in sales this year.

Flipkart Programs

Flipkart Samarth

Flipkart Samarth is an initiative that was launched by the e-commerce company in 2019 to uplift Indian artisans and handicraft communities with national market access online. Artisan and weaver partners of the Samarth program saw 6X growth during this year’s BBD compared to last year, according to Flipkart.

Flipkart Samarth artisans curated a special line of products under the theme “Artforms of India” for BBD 2021. The theme offered a limited collection of 28 products highlighting India’s rich cultural heritage or regional significance. Popular Samarth products included home décor, natural beauty products and women’s ethnicwear. Flipkart also provided an immersive experience to consumers through 3D and AR (augmented reality) technologies, enabling them to visualize “Artforms of India” products in their living space.

Offline Branded Retail Stores

Piloted for the fashion category in late 2020 during the pandemic, the partnership enabled offline sellers to grow their business by leveraging Flipkart’s expertise, customer base and technology support, Flipkart stated. The partnership added three new categories for BBD 2021: large appliances, mobiles and consumer electronics.

Flipkart partnered with over 5,000 offline branded retail stores, including small- and large-format stores in fashion, large appliances and consumer electronics categories, from more than 300 cities across India during BBD 2021.

Consumer Programs

Flipkart’s Smart Upgrade Plan and Product Exchange Program provide customers easy upgrade and affordability options through part-payments and exchange of used/old products. During BBD 2021, Flipkart extended the program across mobiles, large and small home appliances, and electronic products.

Separately, Flipkart designed the “BBD Shagun” special rewards program for its customers this year. Over ₹200 million ($2.7 million) was redeemed by more than 250,000 customers under this offering in the first 12 hours of BBD early access, according to the company.

B2B and Kirana Programs

Flipkart’s business-to-business (B2B) online marketplace, Flipkart Wholesale, featured offers for more than 1.5 million kiranas during BBD 2021, across 10,000+ zip codes in 24 states. The product selection covered more than 400,000 listings in the fashion category, 13,500 in grocery and 25,000 in general merchandise.

Flipkart reported that Flipkart Wholesale saw a 30% increase in the number of kirana members on its platform during BBD 2021, and that kiranas achieved a 1.8X increase in sales compared to last year’s event. The general merchandise category on Flipkart Wholesale witnessed a 124% year-over-year increase in purchases, followed by grocery (50% increase) and fashion (24% increase).

BBD 2021 saw 70% e-commerce adoption by kiranas across India, according to Flipkart. Flipkart Wholesale continued its focus of digitalizing kiranas: Over 45% of Flipkart Wholesale’s member base transacted online during the festival. The platform also saw a 50% increase in deliveries per day.

Financial Offerings

Flipkart Wholesale offered up to 14 days interest-free credit through its “buy now, pay later” option for around 150,000 kiranas. In partnership with banks and fintech firms, the platform facilitated ₹1.65 billion ($21.9 million) in credit for members during BBD 2021, with the credit line ranging from ₹10,000 ($133) to ₹2.5 million (around $33,200).

Reinforcing the growing adoption of e-commerce in India, Flipkart also provided financial aid for consumers during BBD 2021, such as Flipkart Pay Later and no cost EMI (equated monthly installments)—a fixed payment made by the customer to the seller on a specified date of each month—as well as through fintech partnerships with leading banks. One-fifth of the customers who bought large appliances opted for an alternative payment option, according to Flipkart.

[caption id="attachment_134672" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Source: Flipkart[/caption]  

Shopping Highlights

Below, we present highlights of the popular product categories during this year’s BBD festival, as reported by Flipkart.

• The bestselling categories included mobiles, electronics and appliances, lifestyle, books and general merchandise, and home.
• Sales of premium smartphones during BBD 2021 doubled from last year’s event, and 41.8% of premium smartphones were purchased by Tier 3 customers. One in five smartphones sold during BBD was 5G-enabled. The Apple iPhone 12 and Apple iPhone 12 Mini saw sales of around 200,000 units.
• TVs were the bestselling product type in the home appliances category, and laptops recorded the most sales among electronics.
• Sports shoes, outdoor wear and men's clothing sales spiked in the fashion category—indicating consumer readiness to venture out and participate in outdoor activities following the lifting of pandemic-led restrictions.
• Smart watches and fitness bands in the consumer electronics segment saw 100% sales growth over last year’s festival.
• The home-improvement category grew by about 80% year over year during BBD 2021.  Gardening tools saw a sharp rise in consumer interest; gardening became a popular hobby among consumers during the pandemic. Home sales were also boosted by demand for furniture as consumers continue to work from home.

[caption id="attachment_134673" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Source: Flipkart[/caption]  

Brand Partnerships

• In partnership with American multinational telecommunications company Motorola, Flipkart launched the Motorola Revou-Q premium TV—the world’s first QLED TV with a gamepad—ahead of BBD 2021.
• Flipkart further strengthened its 10-year partnership with German apparel and accessories brand Puma through the launch of a new sub-brand, 1DER by Puma, for BBD 2021. In collaboration with Indian cricketer K L Rahul, the launch offers an affordable range of stylish athleisure, footwear and apparel for men in the price range of ₹1,499 ($19.90) to ₹4,999 ($66.40). The 1DER by Puma launch is in response to pandemic-led growth of over 60% in sportswear and athleisure categories this year, the company said in its press release dated September 24, 2021.

[caption id="attachment_134674" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Source: Flipkart[/caption]  

BBD Specials

For the 2021 iteration of the festival, Flipkart launched the largest range of “Big Billions Day Specials” to date—comprising a range of 120 products across popular categories, co-created with leading brands, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Bollywood celebrities. The BBD Specials included limited-edition products and collectables that were available for the first time. Since its inception for BBD 2019, the BBD Specials program has tripled in scale and curates the most-awaited launches for the year, according to Flipkart. The company reported that more than 100,000 customers placed orders for products under BBD Specials in the initial 12 hours of BBD 2021 early access.

• Under BBD Specials this year, Flipkart launched Android 11-powered Nokia Smart TVs with high-definition (HD), Full HD and Ultra HD 4K variants, and the Nokia PureBook S14 laptop with Windows 11 out of the box.

[caption id="attachment_134675" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Source: Flipkart[/caption]  

• Chinese smartphone manufacturer Realme forayed into the large consumer appliance segment through Flipkart BBD 2021. Realme launched its TechLife washing machine range, which comes with intelligent features such as smart sensors, fabric safe wash, 150W powerful motor, in-built heater and water-resistant panels.

Entertainment

Flipkart Video, Flipkart’s streaming platform, launched interactive shows such as “Win With The Stars” and a fun quiz format called “Funtastic Quiz” in collaboration with Bollywood celebrities, enabling consumers to participate and win rewards as part of BBD 2021. More than 1.1 million people from across the country interacted with the livestreaming events in the Flipkart app during BBD 2021, according to the company.

Growing Social Commerce Adoption

Shopsy, Flipkart’s social commerce offering, has witnessed 40X growth since its launch in July 2021 and has accumulated more than 250,000 sellers, 500,000 users and a catalogue of over 150 million products since its launch, the company has revealed.

Shopsy witnessed 16X growth in the first four days of BBD and saw 35X growth from the pre-festive daily average, according to Flipkart. Resellers from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities onboarded Shopsy to “start their entrepreneurial journey this festive season,” as stated in Flipkart’s press release on October 7, 2021.

More Key Metrics from BBD 2021

• The Flipkart Pay Later facility accounted for the second-highest share of pre-paid orders, after credit cards, predominantly across the grocery, lifestyle and home categories.
• Flipkart added 115,000 jobs during this year’s BBD—an increase from 70,000 jobs in 2020 and 50,000 jobs in 2019.
• Flipkart strengthened its delivery network by adding 100,000 kirana partners and using them for last-mile deliveries. Last year, Flipkart made 10 million deliveries through this initiative, and it aims to make 30 million deliveries during the 2021 festive season.
• BBD 2021 was one of the most inclusive and sustainable events in its eight-year history, Flipkart stated. The shopping app was available in 11 Indian languages, sustainable packaging was used and electric vehicles delivered orders across India.

Shopper Complaints: Product Availability, Expectation Mismatch, Delayed Deliveries

As observed in previous years, some shoppers used social media to share their opinions about BBD 2021—and Flipkart was quick to respond to its customers.

• One Twitter user complained about the non-availability of the HP Pavilion Aero AMD laptop during BBD 2021 and pointed out that the same product was available on Amazon at that time. The user also complained that Flipkart was not updating the availability status in spite of multiple requests to do so. Flipkart assured the customer that it was working on the issue.

[caption id="attachment_134676" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Source: Twitter.com[/caption]  

• Indian television actor Paras Kalnawat complained that he received an empty box upon ordering “Nothing Ear 1” earphones for ₹6,000 (around $80) from Flipkart during BBD 2021. Flipkart asked the actor to share his order ID to assist further.

[caption id="attachment_134677" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Source: Twitter.com[/caption]  

• One customer complained through Twitter about the delay in delivery of their order during BBD 2021. Flipkart apologized for the inconvenience and asked the customer to share their user ID for internal escalation. Although the customer said that the escalation helped him receive the products, he complained about the quality of the packaging, as the product was delivered in a zipper instead of a box. Flipkart responded that the issue had been escalated and a specialist will get in touch with the customer.

[caption id="attachment_134678" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Source: Twitter.com[/caption]  

• Another user complained about their delivery being canceled by the delivery associate/partner. Flipkart replied stating that the order cancellation was due to “unforeseen issues” faced by the delivery partner and confirmed that the issue had been escalated to the courier service provider.
• One customer placed an order for an iPhone for ₹51,999 ($690) during BBD 2021 and received soap bars instead. The customer, who refused to accept the product before unboxing, also recorded the unboxing video showing soap bars in the packaging box instead of the iPhone. The customer made a complaint to Flipkart customer care. Flipkart apologized for the mismatch and promised that the issue will be resolved, and a refund will be initiated.

What We Think

Shopping festivals such as Flipkart’s BBD are supporting retail companies in recovering from the impacts of the pandemic—particularly MSMEs and kiranas, by boosting their online presence and capitalizing on the consumer trend to spend big on shopping ahead of the festive season to take advantage of deals, discounts and offers. The festive season presents an opportunity for e-commerce players to ramp-up their operations and supply chain, and increase their base of sellers and consumers, for the year ahead.

Implications for Brands/Retailers

• Shopping events during the festive season offer increased sales and revenue opportunities for sellers and MSMEs, especially to those who enroll with e-commerce players on various initiatives and programs. Brands and retailers should continue their partnerships with e-commerce players even after the festive season to improve their online business prospects throughout the year.
• Brands and retailers should offer attractive deals and discounts to consumers during the festive season to maximize order volumes and win a larger consumer base for the rest of the year.

Implications for Technology Vendors

• Technology plays a key role during shopping festivals, from empowering sellers to generating market insights and offering a better experience to consumers. Technology vendors and service providers should liaise with e-commerce players and build strategic partnerships to leverage their offerings.