Returns bring down Etailers from their festive sales high

The ecommerce scene was buzzing with sales all October long. Marketplaces claimed to have broken records and achieved new levels of greatness. The sales figures reported in the first week of the month were phenomenal. But why stop there? Major etailers held multiple sales events in the attempts to grow their sales figures and outdo each other.

Now that the mega sales have wound down and the enthusiasm has stabilised, it’s time to face the tidal wave of returns.

Festive season returns for Flipkart and Amazon

The prospect of returns was never mentioned when sales skyrocketed. But when you consider the percentage of festive season returns, the sales figures given by Flipkart and Amazon begin to diminish significantly.

During the Big Billion Days sale, Flipkart sold 15.5 million units. Amazon, on the other hand, sold 15 million during the Great Indian Festival. These numbers increased with additional festive sales.

Sellers on Flipkart claim, they saw returns of at least 40% after participating in the Big Billion Days.

Some sellers who participated in this sale on Flipkart were not impressed by the sales numbers the etailer published to the public. They claimed that returns were rampant during after the Big Billion Days and it was all the marketplace’s fault!

Here’s what a couple of sellers had to say about their experiences with Flipkart’s BBD sale:

Flipkart isn’t the only marketplace receiving return requests. Amazon’s festive season returns are at about 25%. For some, the returns percentage varied from 25 to 40% depending on their product category.

Online seller Aman said he experienced returns ranging as high as 20% due to the etailers inability to deliver his products on time. The seller further comments on sales he received on other marketplaces like Shopclues, eBay and Voonik, during the festive season sales. Check out his comments here.

Flipkart defending itself?

The head of Flipkart’s marketplace Anil Goteti claimed that in most cases the returns received were in single digits. Goteti said, “Across the board, we have seen returns coming down by about 25 per cent compared with last year.”

He further added, “We have sellers who adhere to our standards but there are always some whose products can be bad and hence returns can shoot up to even 25 per cent.”

Amazon did not comment on the matter yet. But we do know that ecommerce firms will pass on the cost of returns to their online sellers and if you are one of them the bill for product returns will be long and expensive this year.