Updated with information from Basicslife

Updated with feedback from Paytm Tickets, HomeShop18 & Indiatimes Shopping

Dec 13, 2013: Yesterday, Google India had partnered with around 90 eCommerce sites to launch the Great Online Shopping Festival, a 24 hours online shopping festival wherein the participating eCommerce ventures offered various deals to its consumers.

Initially, it looked more like a marketing exercise and a ploy by eCommerce companies to sell their unsold inventory or capitalise on the Indian consumer’s new found interest in the Black Friday or Cyber Monday initiatives that happens after the ThanksGiving holiday in the United States. And to a significant extent, it was a marketing exercise with very few impressive deals on offer yesterday, although we are a bit skeptical if it was able to achieve the goal of spreading awareness about online shopping in the country and incentivize Indian netizens to adopt online shopping, since the festival’s marketing was limited to the web (correct us if we are wrong).

Google India however claims that it has witnessed a significant amount of participation from first time online buyers looking for deals and making online purchases. It mentioned that all its partners had witnessed a significant growth in traffic and some of its partners had already sold out its stock by 3pm (15 hours after the festival started).

Response from eCommerce Companies

The company also provided a sneak peek at some of the responses seen by its partners like Myntra, HomeShop18, Indiatimes Shopping, Snapdeal and Pepperfry. We also checked with these and some other companies including Flipkart and Cleartrip, for more data and will update this post as we hear from them.

One97 Communications – PayTM Tickets*

Paytm has shared detailed metrics related to users and transactions on GOSF. The day also marked the launch of its new ticketing platform Paytm Tickets, and the company offered a flat 50% discount on bus tickets on the day. On Paytm Tickets, the company has reported that 2048 users registered, booking 3012 tickets worth Rs 36.7 lakh, clocking an ARPU of Rs 1795.30 and average ticket value of Rs 1220.70. The site registered 1791 new users, while 1853 existing Paytm users also contributed. 66 tickets were also cancelled and 362 transactions failed due to failed payments. The most searched route was Bangalore to Hyderabad, followed by Hyderabad to Bangalore, Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad to Vijayawada.

Myntra.com

Mukesh Bansal, Co-Founder and CEO, Myntra claimed that they had witnessed 75% increase in traffic and over 120% growth in sales as of 3pm on December 12. In response to our queries, Ashutosh Lawania, Co-Founder and Head of Sales & Marketing, Myntra, claimed that it had registered 150% growth in sales by the end of the day, as compared to sales on an average day and had witnessed a 120% increase in the number of orders placed yesterday.

He also claimed that Myntra had witnessed a 100% growth in the rate of new registrations and transactions from first time shoppers, with Apparel and footwear segment being the highest selling categories followed by accessories and home decor.

Lawania stated that Google India managed the whole festival and as part of the festival, Myntra along with other key eCommerce partners received significant exposure in the promotional campaigns for the festival. He also mentioned that consumers discovered other discounts and promotions on the site due to this festival.

HomeShop18.com

Narasimha Jayakumar, COO, Homeshop18 claimed that they had witnessed 3x (300%) increase in sales and majority of its electronics and lifestyle offers were sold out by afternoon. The company informs that in terms on transactions, GOSF was a success and it witnessed a 300% jump in traffic and two fold increase in sales. In the lifestyle category; HomeShop18 witnessed a 150% increase in traffic and 200% increase in sales. It registered record sales specially from 12am-5pm time slot. Updated: Apart from that, the website also claims to have registered 2X conversion rate on the day of GSOF.

According to the company, a lot of new customers (over 65%) logged in on the day to make use of the discounts available. The maximum sales were done by categories like apparel, jewellery, footwear and accessories. Lots of products in the apparels and electronic categories had been sold out.

Indiatimes Shopping

Subhanker Sarker, CEO, Indiatimes Shopping claimed that they had witnessed 40% increase in unique visitors and 70% of its transactions were made by first time customers. He added that Mobiles, LCD/LED TVs and Tablets were the highest selling categories for them during the festival. Indiatimes has informed that sales(GMV) grew by more than 60% compared to an average day and the site broke its highest ever revenue for the day record. The growth in the number of transactions for the day was close to 66% with the ASP (Average selling price) going up by 40%. It also added that approximately 70% of people who shopped yesterday via GOSF were first time buyers for Indiatimes Shopping. Apart from Mobiles and computers, the largest selling segment for the site was LCD/LED televisions.

Infibeam.com

Vishal Mehta, Founder and CEO, Infibeam told us in response to our queries that they registered a growth of 300% in sales and a similar growth in the number of transactions. He claimed that around 80% of the transactions registered yesterday were from first time users, with Books, Electronics and Lifestyle being the highest selling categories for them.

Snapdeal

Kunal Bahl, Co-Founder and CEO, Snapdeal claimed that they had witnessed a growth of more than 50% in its daily traffic as of 3pm on December 12. In response to our queries, Sandeep Komaravelly, VP, Marketing, Snapdeal.com claimed that they witnessed a growth of more than 60% in its traffic and a similar growth in sales and number of transactions by the end of the day.

Komaravelly added that they participated in the initiative to get increased reach and growth in sales and claimed that they witnessed a 50% growth in the rate of new registrations, with fashion categories like Apparel, Perfumes and Beauty along with Mobiles and computers category getting the highest amount of traction.

Pepperfry.com

Rajesh Iyer, CMO, Pepperfry claimed that it had registered a 40% growth in site traffic and more than 25% increase in items being sold from the site, with Home and Furniture segment receiving a significant traction from consumers. We have asked for more details and will update as we hear from them.

Sudarshan Gangrade, head of analytics at Hoopos.com, one of the sites that participated in GOSF, has also shared feedback on the festival on NextBigWhat, and has said that the site clocked its best ever sales in terms of volume and value, by a large margin, and said that the initiative helped in projecting e-commerce as an alternative to offline shopping.

Updated: Basicslife.com

Basicslife.com, menswear online store, recorded a 120% sales increase on the day of the Great online shopping festival (GOSF). The company claims that more than 40% of the orders were placed by new customers. The site also witnessed a 50% increase in conversion rate across the site.

Anupam Saxena also contributed to this post

Disclosure: One97 is an advertiser with MediaNama