New Shopping Trends This Diwali

Diwali is as much about lights and sweets as shopping. During this festive season, e-commerce majors go on a sale spree and consumers on a shopping.

Many interesting trends emerge each season, every year. Snapdeal revealed some noteworthy trends from its ‘Unbox Diwali Sale’ this year, indicating a significant evolution in consumer behaviour.

The most surprising trend was a sharp increase in payments by card for purchases over cash on delivery (COD). “This was in part driven by Snapdeal’s partnerships with eight leading banks this Diwali…,” Snapdeal said in a statement.

For long, COD as a mode of payment has been a threat to all e-commerce firms as courier companies charge extra for collecting cash. This cost is usually divided in two parts — fixed cost and variable cost (typically 1-3 per cent of the COD amount). For low-priced items, the COD charges can at times exceed one’s margin on the product, whil in expensive items, it can go up to hundreds or even thousands. Apart from cost, COD results in delay in payments and deliveries, higher returns and cancellations, and increased logistics costs. So, the change in consumer behaviour has indeed come as a relief for e-commerce players.

Snapdeal’s biggest card-based discounts — a maximum of Rs 10,000 off on the iPhone 7 — turned out to be immensely popular among consumers.

The e-tailer’s data also showed that customers who bought electronics and furniture were most likely to go for prepaid options. Customers showed a clear affinity for larger premium appliances. Sixty per cent of all LED TVs sold on Snapdeal were over 40 inches, and 70 per cent of refrigerators bought were over 300 litres in capacity.

Another interesting trend observed was the increase in repeat usage. More than 6.25 lakh users ordered more than five products and nearly 1.1 lakh users ordered more than 10 products during Snapdeal’s ‘Unbox Diwali Sale’. The highest number of products that a single customer ordered during the festive season was a whopping 84.

On the sellers’ side, more than 32,000 e-tailers — out of over 300,000 on the platform — saw sales grow 7X compared to last Diwali season, said Snapdeal.