Earlier this week, Flipkart revealed the data captured from its sales records of 50 million Indian shoppers between January 1 and December 14, 2015, which aimed at offering insights into the buying patterns and preferences of consumers in India.
Flipkart’s study examines the current trends that dominate the online retail space. This is the first such study conducted by the company after the unveiling of their rebranded mobile app during the recent Big Billion Days in October.
It shows that electronics and mobiles are the top emerging performing categories. However, electronic accessories, mobile, lifestyle accessories & women apparel categories were judged as a consistent top performer across all regions.
As far as metro cities are concerned, Delhi NCR turned out to be the major e-commerce-driven city in India, followed by Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Evidently, South India dominated the online shopping market this year, which attributed mainly due to consumer-friendly regulations.
While West and East regions failed to perform well, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal was in fourth and fifth place as far as state level domination is concerned. Flipkart further revealed that 69% of the online shopping community are male.
Pune, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Bhubaneshwar termed in the list of top Tier 1 cities where people buy products online on Flipkart. The list of top Tier 2 cities includes Mangalore, Mysore, Dehradun, Salem and Guntur. In addition, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Tirunelveli and Chittoor occupied the top list in Tier 3 cities.
In 2015, singles topped the list of purchasers followed by people who are married and have kids. Moreover, nearly 50% of consumers who shop online on a daily basis are office goers followed by students making an edge.
Interestingly, consumers falling in the age group of 25 to 34 years dominated the platform in 2015 whereas as the age group of 15 to 24 years of age secured the second place.
While electronic accessories were placed in the first spot under top selling categories, Mobile and Shoes grabbed the first and second position respectively for the maximum number of searches. Handsets, mobile case cover, books, mobile memory card and sarees occupied the top five products list.
In contrast to 2014, books’ sales dropped in huge numbers in 2015. All thanks Amazon for selling books at rock bottom prices with free delivery and no minimum purchase limit.
Amazon has done a tremendously great job concerning return policy where you can return even if you are not satisfied with the items. You just need to pack the items, and their staff will come and pick up at your preferred time.
Although, returning products on Flipkart is never a flexible job compared to its rival Amazon. In fact, there are numerous examples on Quora where users have criticized Flipkart very badly for its pathetic service offerings and return policies.
Seriously, Flipkart needs to work hard on connecting with its users over after sale services, and not just some marketing deals and Big Billion days.
We also expect more warehouses to be established so that Flipkart can procure item locally which will ultimately benefit local traders, consumers, and state governments.
