Google's online shopping extravaganza attracts 2 mn visitors

Its partners like Snapdeal, Myntra and eBay saw daily sales jumping 3 to 4 times

Google's annual online shopping event 'GOSF' attracted 2 million visitors this year as people thronged e-commerce sites to check out deals on electronics, shoes, watches and travel.

Google Online Shopping Festival (GOSF) saw the number of visitors doubling to 2 million this year compared to last year's maiden edition.

Google said its partners (over 200 e-commerce websites) like Snapdeal, Myntra and eBay saw daily sales jumping 3 to 4 times.

"Even offbeat categories like cars and housing saw great traction during the festival with Tata Housing closing booking of over 55 flats," Google India Director eCommerce (local and media) Nitin Bawankule said.

Of the 2 million unique visitors, almost half were women.

Google said 2pm - 8pm was the peak time of traffic each day with 62% viewers coming from the 18-34 years category.

"Currently, we estimate that over 30% buyers were first time shoppers on most sites. Given the scale of the initiative with all the partners and the large number of online shoppers in India, GOSF this year was a huge success by all parameters," he said.

Other popular categories included apparel, e-books, books, home and kitchen equipments, jewellery, and healthcare and wellness.

"We witnessed over 120% jump in traffic and 3.5x growth in revenues, which is testament to the future potential of online shopping in India," Myntra Chief Marketing Officer Vikas Ahuja said.

Tata Housing sold more than 50 apartments with a sales value of over Rs 25 crore across four projects during December 11-14. About 30% of the booking came from NRIs and 40% was from tier II cities.

"Initiatives like GOSF act as a catalyst to further boost adoption of online shopping in India. In fact, a lot of these new shoppers become repeat buyers and add up to the traffic on the website," Snapdeal.Com Vice President (Marketing) Sandeep Komaravelly said.

Lenskart CEO and Founder Peyush Bansal said the site registered 60% spike in traffic and 70% jump in new registrations leading to a 50% increase in the overall sales.

HealthKart Co-Founder Prashant Tandon said GOSF proved to be a great platform to launch a number of new products. The site saw a jump in its core categories like sports nutrition, health nutrition and health devices.

Cash back and coupons site Cashkaro said its traffic doubled during GOSF and the transaction volume went up three times.

Online recharge site Paytm Founder Vijay Sharma said GOSF led to a 15% revenue uptick on the site.