Ecommerce product categories dominance: Flipkart loves smartphones; it’s smart-watches for Amazon

The intense rivalry between Amazon and Flipkart has seeped into product categories as opposed to the overall marketplace supremacy. The etailers are fighting for dominance in each segments and business verticals.

Flipkart believes that they lead in the smartphones segment

Mobile phones are the most popular items on online marketplaces and a major chunk of Flipkart’s sales comes from the sale of smartphones.  During its anniversary special Big 10 sale, Flipkart fulfilled mobile phone orders worth Rs. 800 – Rs. 1000 crore. On day one, the ecommerce biggie sold over 7 lakh smartphones!

As a result, Flipkart maintains that they are the category leader as far as smartphones are concerned. The etailer stated that nearly 27-28% of the market is in their hands. And they plan to increase their share by launching exclusive handsets.

The marketplace’s senior director and head of mobile phones Ayyappan R averred,

“Smartphones is one of the biggest category for us and we will continue our focus on this. In July alone, we have launched three exclusive models on the platform including Motorola, Panasonic and Samsung.” 

According to market research firm Counterpoint, Flipkart accounted for 57% of the online smartphone sales during January-March quarter, whereas Amazon had 27%.

Amazon witnesses growth in watches category

Flipkart has smartphones in its kitty. But Amazon is looking to lead in another ‘smart’ category. The US-based ecommerce giant recently announced that their watches category is growing at jet speed. Smart-watches are flying off the digital shelf as customers are splurging on premium brands without restraint.

Key insights shared by Amazon are:

• The watch category has grown by 160% in 2017
• Year-on-year (YoY) growth is 200%
• Premium watches are selling better than non-premium brands
• Top premium brands are growing by an impressive 250% and above, including brands like Emporio Armani, Skagen, Fossil, Citizen & Casio
• Metallic watches like Gunmetal and Titanium are gaining the most momentum in premium watches
• Demand for smart watches from fashion brands is increasing at a rapid pace
• Bengaluru contributes the most to the sale of premium watches on Amazon, followed by Delhi and Mumbai

Arun Sirdeshmukh, Head of Amazon Fashion shared,

“We have built a strong foothold in the fashion smart-watches category by launching smart-watch brands like Fossil Q, Michael Kors Access etc. This has helped us increase our selection by over 5x YOY giving customers across tier-2 & tier-3 cities easy access to Fashion smart-watches.”

Besides smartphones and smart-watches, Flipkart and Amazon are also competing in the furniture, large appliances, private labels, grocery and fashion category.