Google online shopping fest gets bigger in its second year

Attraction for shoppers at Dec 11-13 event will be deep discounts and wide range of products

If you are looking for deals in anything from travel to pizza, hotels to mobile phones, cars to homes, this might be the place for you. With over 200 brands and websites as participants this year, the Google Online Shopping Festival is turning bigger. Participants have almost doubled from last year when it made a debut, and the duration of the event is longer at three days. Most leading e-commerce companies expect sales to spike by 40-70 per cent during the fest.

Apart from e-commerce companies such as Amazon, eBay, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Myntra, Jabong, Yebhi and HomeShop18, brands cutting across categories such as Volkswagen, Titan, Nokia, ITC, Hyatt, Shopper’s Stop, RedBus, MakeMyTrip, Yatra and Thomas Cook will also be a part of the online festival. Airline companies, including Air Asia, Indigo, and SpiceJet, too have confirmed their attendance. So have others like Airtel, Domino’s Pizza, Maruti, HDFC Bank and Magic Bricks.

CARTLOAD

• Almost double participation from brands and websites compared to last year
• Sale to last three days starting December 11
• Discounts up to 50 % across categories in fashion, home and travel
• Brands from automobile, mobiles, fashion, luxury hotels and banks are participating in the online sale

The attraction for the shoppers at the December 11 - 13 event will be deep discounts and a wide range of products. "We will be offering discounts up to 50 per cent on fashion and ethnic jewellery," said Sanjay Sethi, CEO & co-founder, ShopClues.com.

“The purpose of such events is to get the customer who is sitting on the fringes and not buying online. Such festivals target first-time buyers and we expect to create more customers for e-commerce in the long run,” said Nikhil Rungta, chief business officer, Yebhi.com. Last year, Rungta was part of the Google team that started this online festival. According to industry insiders, Google does not earn any revenue from this activity, but hopes to gain in the long term by associating with more consumers.

The festival had increased sales by about 40-50 per cent last year. “A lot of these new shoppers become repeat buyers and also add up to the traffic on the website,” said Sandeep Komaravelly, vice-president, Marketing, Snapdeal.com. Most leading e-commerce players expect to surpass last year’s records since the sale would be a three-day-long event.

E-commerce sites are focused on selling unique products this time around. “As part of the strategy, we have identified best-sellers across web and television and we will be listing those products at Google Online Festival this year,” said Narasimha Jayakumar, COO, HomeShop18.com. According to Jaykumar, HomeShop18 recorded a 150 per cent increase in traffic and 200 per cent increase in sales, during sale period last year. The ease of payment and the quality of the delivered versus the promised quality on the website will determine whether the first time buyer who is hesitant to buy online will continue his/her online engagement, according to Gaurav Gupta, senior director, Deloitte, India.

Other experts argue that such festivals are crucial to increase the overall online consumer engagement, as they create an excitement around online shopping and associating with internet to find best offers. For brands in automobile and luxury hotels, it will be an opportunity to optimise the traffic and also understand consumers online, according to experts.

E-commerce (without travel) is still a minuscule component of the $500-billion retail pie in India.