M-commerce continues to rise – Strong uplift in retail sales during the festive season

Criteo , the advertising platform for the open Internet, today released seasonal data in anticipation of Diwali, to help e-commerce companies and online retailers better understand the buying behaviour of their customers during the festive season. The seasonal data, based on consumers’ online browsing and buying behaviour during the peak season last year (17th September – 18th October 2017) which was the pre-Diwali period, revealed that the highest sales peak and website traffic was witnessed a month before Diwali. Retail sales from mobile web in the weeks leading to Diwali last year saw an increase of 128%.

As the major ecommerce players in India ride on the growing popularity of online shopping, festive season has become a period of significant importance. Almost every ecommerce player in the ecosystem launches mega-sales during the festive season as consumers look to explore thousands of brands online and spend their disposable income. There is a brand war with high budget spending on advertisements as well as sales offers on consumer products and services.

According to Criteo’s findings, which are based on an analysis of 90 million retail shopping transactions made in India last year, hike in sales reached up to 128%, while the increase in visitors was seen rising to a maximum level of 65%, compared to the average weekly sales during March 12-18, 2017. Siddharth Dabhade, General Manager India, Criteo said, “Diwali has always been associated with shopping, but with the rising adoption of m-commerce and huge discounts offered by ecommerce players, Diwali shopping spree has reached a whole new level. Tech-savy Indian consumers want the convenience of browsing multiple brands and different product categories on-the-go, which mobile apps can offer. By 2022, we can expect to witness more interesting trends since India’s ecommerce market is set to grow four-fold to $150 billion.”

He further stated that “While the year 2017 saw a huge uplift in sales and online traffic on ecommerce portals, 2018 could be even bigger. Many factors will contribute to this trend, such as the ease of digital payment and the readiness of consumers to try the various payment methods. Huge budgets are specially allocated by brands for advertisements during the Diwali sale period is yet another major factor. To fully utilize these trends, brands need to understand the change in the consumer buying behaviour and their spending patterns. Criteo can equip brands with insights which can help the brand in curating customised strategy to tap the target audience for creating customized strategy to tap online buyers”

Apps and Mobile web driving the sales during festive season

Offering ease of convenience, mobile phones have become the prime point of brand interaction with consumers. Apps represent the most personalized channel to reach India’s consumers.

According to data gathered by Criteo for the period 17th September 2017 to 18th October 2017, the uplift in sales from app and mobile web were significantly higher than desktop sales. This is because consumers have less time to use their PCs and laptops during the festival period and rely more on their smartphone to complete last-minute shopping. Also, the number of product page views were up 133% on retail apps, compared to March 12-18, 2017 data. That contributed to the 88% uplift in sales via apps during the Diwali sales period. This clearly shows m-commerce is experiencing a huge rise in India. Consumers can easily explore thousands of products and brands at their own convenience, which saves time, money and energy.

Popular Product categories during Diwali season sale and Dhanteras

The most popular product categories during Diwali season sales include mobile phones, decorations, kitchen and dining and Jewellery and watches, closely followed by clothing, cosmetics, shoes, accessories and personal care.