In the continuing tussle between two of India’s largest e-commerce firms, Flipkart raced ahead of Amazon India in terms of gross monthly sales in June, as per a report by Mihir Dalal in Mint.
While Flipkart reported Rs 2,600 crore in gross monthly sales for June, Amazon India netted Rs 2,400 crore.
This comes on the back of consistently high numbers in monthly sales for Flipkart this year despite the e-commerce market continuing to expand at a sluggish pace for the quarter ended June 30, the report adds.
Flipkart had reported higher gross sales in May as well due to its Big 10 sale, which was to mark the Flipkart anniversary of completing 10 years in the business.
Even for the last quarter, Flipkart along with its subsidiaries Myntra and Jabong, was way ahead of Amazon.
The online retail market in India though is witnessing slower growth as the numbers show.
Customers bought goods worth $15.5 billion on an annualised basis for the June quarter, according to RedSeer Management Consulting Pvt. Ltd. entailing a growth of just 5% from the March quarter, and an increase of 19% from the year ago, the report says.
The sales numbers for Flipkart and Amazon suggest that both companies are growing faster than the e-commerce market, thereby implying that they are drawing a large market share from rivals like Snapdeal, as per the report.
“We continued to see high growth momentum in the quarter, majorly driven by some big brand launches, the tremendous success of the Great Indian Sale in May and continued expansion and reach in India, with 80% of new customers in the quarter coming from lower-tier geographies. We track independent third parties that measure customer visits and app behaviour metrics and note that we continue to grow ahead of the market. We are delighted and humbled by the trust from our customers, to lead in India on things that matter to our customers in just four years of our business, while continuing to innovate for India and introduce new offerings,” an Amazon India spokeswoman said in a statement.
Last October, after a year of sluggish growth, Flipkart sales picked up again mainly on the back of demand for smartphones, which now account for 60-65% of the company’s gross sales in some months, as per the report.
Flipkart will focus on higher-value categories including smartphones, TVs, refrigerators, and will also venture into groceries and furniture later this year.
Rival Amazon meanwhile plans to expand its product portfolio and make a wide variety of things, even low-value ones available on its platform.