Discounts pour in: Customer is king this Diwali as Flipkart, Amazon battle

We have all heard of the famous rivalry between Flipkart and Amazon in India but this is taking things to a whole new level. This morning’s newspapers were plastered with ads from Flipkart announcing “India’s greatest sale ever” from 6 October, a day it has termed as the Big Billion Day.

Not to be left behind, now Amazon has taken the help of India’s successful mission to Mars to announce its own mega sale which actually begins earlier but ends on 6 October. Amazon is terming this weekend the Mission to Mars weekend, promising out-of-the-world deals to customers.

Flipkart says it hopes to unite a billion Indians on a single day through its unprecedented sale bonanza where there will be flash sales and lucky draws every hour. Amazon says shoes and movie titles will be available at half the price and branded watches at 40 percent discount between October 4-6.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos may go hoarse saying competition matters little to him and that Amazon just believes in continuing to do its own thing but obviously his team in India tracks competition closely. The Flipkart Bansals have also been saying that a massive outdoor campaign which greeted Bezos on his arrival in Bangalore on Sunday was planned weeks in advance and had little to do with his arrival - but hey, who cares? As long as the deals keep coming that is. Customers are the ultimate beneficiaries - who will mind deep discounts, just before Diwali?

Why did Flipkart think of 6 October? Well, 610 is the number of the flat from where founders Sachin and Binny Bansal began building Flipkart. The Big Billion Day refers to Flipkart’s aspiration that a billion Indians unite that day to buy stuff from its website like never before. It has put together 10,000 people as its field staff for that one day when it expects mega orders, which need to be delivered on time across the country.

Flipkart will be announcing offers across 70 categories on 6 October. Flipkart was started by two ex-Amazon employees - who turned to Amazon’s marketplace model last year after trying to build an inventory based model in India earlier. Flipkart recently raised a billion dollars in funding, which was immediately followed by Bezos announcing $2 billion investment in the Indian operations. The Indian e-commerce firm has been the fastest Indian e-commerce company to reach a $1 billion in gross merchandise value.

Amazon is meanwhile trying its bit to lure customers away. In a statement, Amazon India’s Country Manager and VP Amit Agarwal said there has been a 250 percent increase in the number of customers who have taken advantage of the deals on Amazon.in in the last one week. This is the second week of mega discounts on the website.

An online story in The Economic Times newspaper speaks of a war between e-commerce companies not just in announcing mega sales but also in advertising. This story says Flipkart has blocked over 1,000 ad spots a day on television for October. It also says Snapdeal has got on board 28 celebrities, primarily television stars like Mandira Bedi and Harsha Bhogle, for its festive ad campaign.

“The Delhi-based firm has blocked up to 2,000 ad spots a day across these television channels. It spent over Rs 20 crore, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal, to become the presenting partner of the hit reality show Big Boss.”