Considering the high potential market India is, smartphone manufacturers not only push sales through offline channels but optimize the online channels as well for their gain. Indian consumers are steadily also shifting to e-platforms to purchase smartphones, majorly due to luring discounts and economic pricing. And e-commerce platforms such as Flipkart, Amazon India, and Snapdeal rely on high revenues on the sale of electronics and constantly strive to outperform the other in the field.
According to latest data from Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Technology Market Research, Flipkart seized the largest — 51% — stake in the online smartphone sales in October-December 2016. The homegrown e-retailer fought for its place beating arch rivals, Amazon India who trapped 33% share while Snapdeal’s share slipped to a mere 13%. These figures are extremely important as smartphone sales contribute about a third of gross merchandise value (GMV) and considered a crucial category for an e-marketplace.
The figures clearly represent Flipkart’s position in the market, who managed to sell more than half of the phones by itself. Though the company’s share glided down to 40% in June 2016, it was able to revive via festive season sales and achieved the milestone. Amazon’s attainment, on the other hand, can be credited to several new launches from brands like Motorola, Lenovo, and Xiaomi. These brands were previously listed exclusively on Flipkart.
Though, considering the volumes at Amazon, these brands crawled back to Flipkart. The newly appointed CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy is leading the category management function, besides tapping the exclusivity for the said brands also clinched the opportunity of being the official online seller for Apple devices. The sales blasted through the roof with the iPhone 7 launch in October, accounting for this big number for Flipkart.
As per Ayyappan R, Flipkart director leading the smartphone category, the platform holds 70% market share in online smartphone sales. Reasoing out the huge figure, he said,
One year back there were a few brands which wanted to try out Amazon, but after looking at the volumes there they have started to come back. Online share of sales for Apple increased by 5x during the October-December quarter.
Morever, the company said that on the eve of its dedicated smartphone sale, products worth 1,400 crore were sold. Smartphone sales for Flipkart also prove to be a strong reason for thumping Amazon during the festive rush. Declining the failure in the said category, an Amazon India spokeswoman said,
Smartphones have consistently been the top selling category on Amazon.in. In 2016 our smartphone business more than doubled (both in shipments and sales). The launch of Prime in the second half of 2016 provided an additional boost to the momentum.
Though the growth figures with the research agency reveal a slightly different story. They state that Amazon India became the fastest growing channel in 2016 with 78% year-on-year growth compared with Flipkart’s 15%. These gains for Amazon assign to Snapdeal’s flailing position in the e-commerce industry. However, experts now suggest that both Amazon and Flipkart need to adapt to changing market while chances are smartphone markers remain loyal to just one platform only.
