Is this the future of Flipkart's marketplace? 'Big Billion Day' sale to go all-app

Sources say this is a trial run ahead of the company going mobile-only sometime in the future

Moving towards its goal to have app-only operations, India’s top e-commerce marketplace, Flipkart, said on Monday the second edition of its ‘Big Billion Sale’ would be an app-only shopping event. Flipkart’s announcement came on a day when rival Snapdeal had its Diwali sales preview, recording a 10-fold rise in sales.

This is the first time Flipkart has come out strongly on pushing sales only on the app platform. While fashion and lifestyle portal Myntra, acquired by Flipkart last year for $300 million, operates only on an app platform, the Sachin Bansal-founded company is yet to take the plunge.

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Sources in the company said this year's ‘app only’ sales was a trial run, ahead of Flipkart going all-app in the near future. “We are only offering sales on the app platform as this is the future of our online marketplace. We cannot disclose when, but soon Flipkart would be app-only,” the source said. There is a possibility of Flipkart, making an announcement of going app-only soon after it assesses its ‘Big Billion Sale’.

GLITCH-PROOF?

• Flipkart had last year apologised for the glitches encountered during its sale
   
• It had admitted its ‘failure’ in living up to expectations
   
• Firms says it has ramped up tech & supply chain support to ensure 50 mn customers have the best mobile shopping experience

Earlier this year, Flipkart had said mobile apps were the way forward. “India is gradually transitioning from a mobile-first to a mobile-only country. At Flipkart, we have been following a mobile-first approach and 70-75 per cent of our total traffic is already coming from our mobile app," Flipkart stated.

Officials said the app route would help the firm make deeper inroads into Tier-II and Tier-III towns where they believe the use of smartphones was more than that of desktops and laptops.

Flipkart will offer discounts across 70 product categories for customers to shop from during the festive sale to be held between October 13 and 17. Myntra will also be a part of the sales.

Apologising for the glitches encountered during last year’s ‘Big Billion Day’ sale and admitting the company’s ‘failure’ in living up to expectations, Flipkart’s head of commerce, Mukesh Bansal has promised trouble-free seamless sale this year.

“India shops the most during this time of the year. With 75 per cent of traffic coming via mobile, we expect this app-only sale to be the biggest shopping event of the year. Bigger and better as compared to last year, we have worked towards ensuring a seamless shopping experience for our customers,” Bansal stated.

He added the company had boosted its technology and supply chain support to “ensure all our 50 million customers have the best ever mobile shopping experience”.

Meanwhile, Snapdeal, besides stating its Diwali preview sales revenue recorded a 10X increase by Monday afternoon, said: “The growth in sales volumes is consistent across all categories, with overall 6X increase in volumes as compared to usual days.”

Over the past six months, Snapdeal had been strengthening its supply chain and  geared to handle 10X volumes compared to Diwali last year, the company said.

“Our technology platform is geared to handle traffic surges without any delays or glitches. During the peak hours today (on Monday) we have seen 200,000 consumers concurrently shopping on our site without any time lag,” said Rahul Taneja, vice-president (management), Snapdeal.