Flipkart to kick off flagship sale event The Big Billion Days on Oct 3

Flipkart's The Big Billion Days 2021 will see millions of consumers, sellers, small businesses, artisans, Kiranas, brands and e-commerce ecosystem partners come together for the festive season

E-commerce firm Flipkart previously announced to kick off the country’s festive season with the 8th edition of its biggest flagship event, The Big Billion Days (TBBD), from October 7 to 12, 2021 has preponed to October 3 to 10, 2021 which is exactly a day before Amazon's 'The Great Indian Festival 2021' sales starting October 4. The 7-day event will see millions of consumers, sellers, small businesses, artisans, Kiranas, brands and e-commerce ecosystem partners come together for the upcoming festive season. In a first, non-Plus customers will be able to gain early access by redeeming 50 earned SuperCoins on the Flipkart app. This year, The Big Billion Days will bring forth several new opportunities for homegrown brands and sellers to celebrate with consumers across the country, from metros to Tier 2 cities and beyond. 

“Over the past year, in collaboration with our ecosystem partners, we’ve worked towards creating opportunities that revitalize consumer sentiment in these challenging times and revive India's economic growth,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Flipkart Group. “Flipkart’s commitment to providing value to consumers, opportunities for growth for MSMEs, sellers and our lakhs of Kirana partners, and employment generation through e-commerce, goes to show how the country has embraced e-commerce over the past year and a half and The Big Billion Days is our way of giving back to the community and enthuse the festive spirit across the nation.”

Walmart-owned Flipkart’s rival Amazon has also announced this year’s ‘Great Indian Festival’ sale. According to the microsite published by Amazon, the event will go live around the festive season in India this year. The event would allow hundreds of thousands of small and medium businesses (SMBs) to offer unique selection to customers.

Over the past year and a half, Flipkart said its focus has largely been to build and aid a collaborative and democratic retail ecosystem for MSMEs to revive and revitalize their businesses. The firm said it has left no stone unturned in bringing value to consumers in every part of the country by expanding choice and bringing the prowess of technology to all. This year will see a host of new launches, games, interactive videos, live streams and rewards throughout TBBD. Consumers can expect a special and immersive shopping experience.

Flipkart continues to strengthen its seller base and is on track to have 4.2 Lakh sellers on its platform by December 2021. Currently, the Flipkart Marketplace supports digital commerce for 3.75 Lakh sellers. Flipkart has already onboarded 75,000 new sellers on its platform over the last few months as MSMEs, and small business entrepreneurs continue to be enthused by the potential of e-commerce ahead of the festive season. The new sellers and MSME base predominantly come from Tier 2 and 3 markets such as Agra, Indore, Jaipur, Panipat, Rajkot and Surat.

Also, Flipkart Wholesale, the digital B2B marketplace of the e-commerce firm through its partnerships with lending partners and fintech institutions aims to provide multiple credit offerings to more than 1.5 million Kiranas and SMEs (small and medium enterprises) to help them manage their working capital requirements and grow their business.

This year, Flipkart customers will have an inclusive and consumer-centric shopping experience with the newly launched EMI facility on ‘Flipkart Pay Later’. It opens a credit line of up to Rs.70,000 for eligible customers, that can be paid back over flexible tenures of 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, enabling high-value purchases for them this festive season.

As part of the event, Flipkart has built over 100 new partnerships with brands across categories to bring forth a wide assortment of more than 10,000 new products. This year, Flipkart has partnered with various celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Virat Kohli, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Sudeep Kiccha, and Mahesh Babu. They will be seen in creative avatars as they celebrate The Big Billion Days event.

Last year, e-commerce firms witnessed blockbuster festive season sales. India’s online festive sale for a month — during October-November — raked in $8.3 billion in gross sales, including for brands and sellers, up by 65 per cent year-on-year, exceeding forecasts, according to a report by consulting firm RedSeer. E-commerce industry executives said that they are expecting to witness more growth than that this year.