Affordable fashion, premium electronics fuel India’s festive sales as consumption rises

Bengaluru: As India kicked off online festive season sales, affordable fashion and premium electronics emerged as the top-performing categories, as private consumption surged especially in the rural parts of the country, a report showed on Thursday.

The festive season sale in the first leg on various online e-commerce platforms reached over Rs 54,500 crore.

From September 26 to October 6, unbranded and value segment in women’s apparel, daily-wear jewellery and kids’ fashion also saw significant growth, with a notable boost from tier 2 markets and beyond, according to the report by Redseer Strategy Consultants.

Kushal Bhatnagar from Redseer said that e-commerce festive sales this year have shown dynamic growth patterns, building on the momentum from last year.

“In 2023, the nine-day festive event saw approximately 19 per cent YoY growth over 2022. This was primarily driven by high average selling price (ASP) purchases such as mobiles, electronics and large appliances, contributing to about 67 per cent of the sales,” he noted.

However, the 2024 festive season has been different.

While the early phase followed a similar trend with high ASP products leading the charge, the latter half experienced strong demand for lower ASP items, particularly in fashion, which saw massive growth driven by ethnic wear and tier 2+ markets, the report noted.

With increased participation from e-commerce platforms, direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands and quick commerce players, consumer spending saw a remarkable surge.

ACs, refrigerators and premium electronics are the main drivers of the growth. Extended summers and rising humidity levels have boosted demand for ACs and refrigerators, particularly in the under-penetrated regions, the report mentioned.

Premium electronics like robotic vacuum cleaners and water purifiers have seen growth, particularly in Metro and Tier 1 cities, as consumers upgrade to life-comfort products. Premium TVs performed well too.

“The broader mobile phone market experienced muted growth, but premium brands such as Apple continued to thrive. There was a noticeable shift of Android users to iOS, marking an interesting consumer trend,” the report noted.

Quick commerce platforms saw an unexpected spike in mobile phone purchases, further emphasising the evolving role of these platforms.

The beauty, grooming and home category saw an increase in the availability of low average selling price (ASP) items and new selections across various platforms, said the report.