Coronavirus Outbreak: Snapdeal receives 65% orders from red zone cities on Day one of Lockdown 4.0

E-commerce major, Snapdeal on Monday said that on Day 1 of the expanded operations, the orders grew rapidly and had crossed 2.4 times the average of the previous 15 days by 3 pm on 18th May. The surge in orders started around 10 pm on Sunday and has been growing every hour from 8 am onwards, the company said. Many users simply checked out their pre-loaded carts, which they have accumulating over the last 4-6 weeks. On average, users bought 2-3 products in one go. This was to avoid a stock out situation, where high-demand products get sold out quickly, it said. Snapdeal said, the orders placed by users in the cities currently categorised as red zones was more than 65 percent of the total orders placed so far in the last 24 hours. The conversion of visitors to buyers was more than double the national average - a strong indicator of the eager wait for e-commerce channels to open, it said. [caption id=“attachment_4286413” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Users in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Patna, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Jaipur, Kota, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Indore and Kolkata accounted for a large part of the orders placed from cities classified as red zones. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak Budget phones were a large part of the demand on Day 1. This included smartphones in the range of Rs 4000-8000, features phones priced in the range of Rs 500-1500, the company said. Home goods like pressure cookers, food processors, water bottles containers for food, bedsheets, towels, mops, buckets were ordered in large numbers. Trimmers and personal grooming supplies continue their strong trend, Snapdeal said. T-Shirts, shorts, sunglasses, footwear, tummy trimmers, weights feature high on the shopping lists, it further said. Amongst worked from home needs, monitors, keyboards, extension cords, external hard disks were most ordered. Protection essentials including masks, face shields, sanitizers and herbal immunity boosters sold briskly across the entire country, Snapdeal said. Delivery of products in the red zones is expected to start from tomorrow onwards and will be made operational in accordance with MHA & state-specific guidelines, the company said. “At Snapdeal, we are also closely working with all our sellers and logistic partners to plan a safe and efficient resumption of expanded deliveries in red zones,” it said. Under the fourth phase of the lockdown, the government allowed greater relaxations, industry watchers say they are waiting for states’ decision on the matter. In the first two phases of the lockdown (that started from 25 March), e-commerce companies were allowed to sell only essential items like grocery, healthcare and pharmaceutical products. In the third phase (from May 4), these platforms were allowed to sell all items in orange and green zones, but only essential items were allowed to be shipped in red zones that include top e-commerce hubs like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad. Sales of non-essential items on e-commerce platforms in the first week of May were lower than last year on account of the lockdown, but orders were scaling fast as people bought apparel, smartphones and grooming products among other items. The industry continues to face the challenge of the availability of limited manpower for warehouses and delivery.