E-commerce firms expect 60% increase in business this Diwali season

The estimate is in sharp contrast to the prevailing economic scenario in the country, with every other industry blaming slowdown for affecting businesses

Almost 32 million users are expected to buy from the e-commerce firms during the upcoming mega Diwali sale, RedSeer Consulting has said. The firm claims the period will see users make 75 million transactions this year, against over 45 million in the last.

The estimate is in sharp contrast to the prevailing economic scenario in the country, with every other industry blaming slowdown for affecting businesses. A few days ago, however, the two e-commerce majors in India — Flipkart and Amazon — shrugged off slowdown stories.

RedSeer’s numbers show that might be true for the e-commerce sector in the country. During this year’s festive sale, e-commerce firms are expected to clock business of $3.7 billion, 60-65 per cent higher than $2.3 billion last year, according to estimates from RedSeer. Forester Research also estimates $3.8 billion in overall e-commerce sales. However, its estimate of growth is 36 per cent, given that it believes 2018 festive season sales were $2.9 billion.

“Our consumer and business research and prediction modellers clearly indicate that market is ready to grow significantly during the festive days of 2019,” said Anil Kumar, founder and chief executive, RedSeer….