Wait for us! Flipkart to buyers

India’s biggest online sales frenzy will kick off on Saturday with Amazon’s Great Indian Festival, but there is a spoiler alert.

Local rival and the country's largest e-commerce player, Flipkart, has launched a social media campaign for its millions of followers and shoppers, asking them to wait for its own sale instead of making purchases on Amazon.

“Hang on India. The real deals begin only on the 2nd of October on India’s biggest sale,” reads a post on Flipkart’s Facebook page reaching out to nearly six million followers.

Flipkart claims it has over 100 million registered users, majority of them on smartphone apps.

Through its campaign, the company is trying to stop shoppers from making impulsive purchases on Amazon, while also poking fun at its smaller rivals. Flipkart declined to comment on the matter.

Accompanied by a GIF image, Flipkart’s post asks users to give rival sales a skip, with creative puns in tow. The e-commerce leader is clearly concerned about the damage Amazon can do, but isn’t giving up its wit just yet to go after its rival.

Amazon is looking to mop up business ahead of when its rivals get into the game.

The US firm which recently replenished its war chest with $3 billion, is expected to give big discounts and quicker deliveries through its subscription-based loyalty service Prime.

“Amazon having the sale a day before Flipkart means mopping up a whole host of latent waiting demand, which is basically money waiting to be spent. But then, Flipkart has the time to witness what Amazon is doing and go one- up them,” said Harish Bijoor, a brand consultant and expert.

Amazon will draw first blood during the sale, but the real battle to get consumers to buy goods will begin only on Day 2, as they wait to compare deals between all leading e-commerce brands. Flipkart’s sale begins on October 2 as does Snapdeal’s. Flipkart’s leadership in India’s e-commerce space might be a shaky topic, but the company’s rivals seem to be following its every move. Amazon and Snapdeal announced the date of their sales only after Flipkart took the plunge.

“I think it is completely strategic and to an extent, Amazon has followed Flipkart, and not the other way around. Amazon is making its every move keeping Flipkart in mind, because you need to keep the guy ahead of you in sight, not the guy behind you,” added Bijoor.

All three firms are offering discounts to consumers to grab more sales, after a dull first half of the year. During that period, they were under intense scrutiny for allegedly manipulating prices of products sold on their platforms.

In April, India revised its foreign direct investment policy in e-commerce marketplaces which banned these firms from giving discounts or influencing vendor prices.