Etailers’ Festive Sales prep starts; next-day delivery, preferred sellers to help increase revenue

This year’s festive season sales is going to be a bit different than the previous years. Primarily because last year and the ones before, ecommerce players didn’t have to deal with the new FDI rules and regulations.

Now there’s curb on discounts, which will be a real test for etailers during the peak sales period.

For the same reason, ecommerce biggies Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal have started prepping for it much in advance.

Amazon to slash seller commission to make way for discounts

Earth’s most customer-centric company Amazon has found a way to give discounts to its customers without violating any rules. The American etailer has decided to let go of seller commission (a percentage) and instructed sellers to pass on the benefits to customers.

Reports suggest that Amazon will cut approximately 30-50% commission it gets from big sellers and preferred vendors to boost sales.  

“All the marketplaces are now identifying preferred sellers with whom they would have special business relationships so that discounts can continue in compliance with FDI norms,” one seller revealed.

Amazon also launched fulfilment centre in Chennai to meet festive season demands and support its Prime service.

Flipkart will offer credit to sellers against discount

Since marketplaces can’t offer discounts from their end, they urge vendors to participate in sales event by offering discounts. For this festive season, the Indian ecommerce leader Flipkart is planning to offer credit to sellers to reimburse the money spend on funding discounts.

“While we continue to expand the affordability charter through innovative programmes such as no-cost EMI and product-exchange programmes, discounts to consumers are given by sellers and by various brands,” said Flipkart’s spokesperson.

Snapdeal too is planning to adopt the same strategy to score big in this year’s great Indian festive sale season.

For product categories with hefty profit margins, the discount will be funded by sellers. But for categories with slim profit margins like smartphones and consumer electronics, etailers plan to fund the discounts themselves.

According to online seller Dhruv Goyal, “This festive season, the discounts will be majorly funded by the sellers at the transaction level for categories like home decor, handicrafts and kitchenware, whereas for categories like electronics and appliances, it will be funded by ecommerce companies (in the form of cash backs) due to very thin margins at the seller’s end.”

Snapdeal kick-starts next-day delivery service in 104 cities

One of the biggest worries during peak sales period is timely delivery of orders. While discounts will bring customers to online shopping portals, but the delivery promise will determine if the customer will hit the ‘buy’ or ‘cancel’ button.

To deal with this issue, Snapdeal plans to introduce Next-day Delivery (NDD) service in 104 cities. The etailer has partnered with several airline companies to fulfill such orders and this new service will cater to tier 1, 2 and 3 cities.

“This service has been designed to offer convenience to customers across the country, of having their purchases delivered to them the very next day of ordering. Going forward, we will be continuously working with our sellers and brand partners to make additional assortment of products available for next day delivery service,” shared Jayant Sood, Chief Customer Experience Officer at Snapdeal.

Earlier this month, Snapdeal also opened 6 major logistics hubs to ramp up delivery operations.