Smartphone online sales witness 100% growth this festive season, laptop sales have grown by 150%: Study by GoPaisa

Other fast-growing sectors for online sales include Groceries, Home appliances and beauty products registering growth of 200%, 70%, and 125% respectively.

The GoPaisa, an online savings platform, recently conducted a trend survey of online buyer behavior during the Festival Season Sale (for India). On November 15, 2018, they have revealed a few interesting insights. Technology products and accessories registered the highest quotient of growth compared to 2017, along with home appliances, groceries and beauty products.

As compared to the online sale period in 2017, smartphone sales have seen 100% growth during the corresponding period this year. With a high number of brands entering the segment with quality budget smartphones, many first-time smartphone buyers have entered the market, expanding the consumer base substantially. Even other tech products, such as laptops have witnessed healthy growth, registering an upsurge of 150% as against the number of sales during the same time last year. HP, Dell, and Lenovo have been the most sought-after brands under the INR 30K price range.

Another sector which saw an increase in online sales was groceries which registered a growth of approximately 200% as that of last year due the heavy discounting offered by top brands to capture the market share and increase sales numbers. It is also the most popular segment to attract first-time online shoppers or reticent customers. Home appliances and beauty products round off the list of popular product segments, growing by approximately 70% and 125% respectively, as compared to last year.

In a city-wise breakdown, it was observed that Hyderabad (9.5%), Bangalore (9%), Mumbai (8%), New Delhi (6.6%) and Pune (6.6%) were the top cities that contributed to purchases during this year’s festive sales. Further, tier 2 cities that contributed below 1% in 2017 have shown tremendous growth this year with Patna (3.4%), Kochi (2.6%), Indore (4.6%) and Sonipat (2.5%) being the areas of maximum increased traction.

Commenting on the trends, Ms. Ankita Jain, Cofounder, GoPaisa said, “The Great Indian Festive Season is always a time for a lot of purchases, and online buying has become the favourite new way to shop for the modern Indian buyers. The 3Cs-convenience, credibility, and cashbacks have made e-purchases a household pastime. This festive season, tech products have again ruled the roost when it comes to popular purchases, as various platforms shower users with a lot of substantial discounts, deals and cashbacks to make the festival season all the more enjoyable!”

A startling trend that was reported was that although the usual age-group that shops the most is between 25-34 years, this year a spike was noticed in the shopping trends from the 55-63 year age bracket, indicating the fact that ‘senior citizens’ are also quickly jumping onboard the online shopping juggernaut!