Meesho sees record 16 mn new app installs during Mega Blockbuster sale

SoftBank-backed e-commerce firm Meesho said it witnessed a record 16 million new app installations during its flagship ‘Meesho Mega Blockbuster Sale’ live from October 6 to October 15. 

With 1.2 billion customer visits, categories such as home and kitchen, fashion as well as beauty and personal care garnered more than 72 orders per second.

Customers shopped for festive decorations such as jharokhas, diya thalis, rangoli stencils, torans, lanterns, and string lights. The company saw 80 per cent of orders coming from the length and breadth of the country, including cities like Amravati, Aurangabad, Dehradun, Nellore, Solapur, and Warangal.

“Our innovative offerings such as Meesho Mall, Meesho Gold, and Loyalty Program have helped empower small businesses and delight customers,” said Megha Agarwal, CXO, Growth at Meesho, “The significant increase in the sales of our sellers has made the Mega Blockbuster Sale a success and is a testament to our commitment towards fostering the growth of small businesses.”

With orders coming in from across the country, small businesses on Meesho witnessed significant growth during the festive sale event. Ahead of the Mega Blockbuster Sale, Meesho has onboarded nearly 200,000 new sellers. Nearly 30,000 sellers became 'lakhpatis' during the sale event.

The company also saw its recent offering for branded products ‘Meesho Mall’ witness 3X growth in orders over business-as-usual (BAU) days. Regional and value brands alike are seeing growth across categories such as personal care and beauty, footwear, apparel, and electronic accessories. Nearly 70 per cent of these orders came from first-time Mall users. Meesho said this reinforces its goal of becoming an enabler for several emerging and regional brands looking to tap a larger audience across the country. As many as 88 per cent of new users shopped from the recently launched ‘Meesho Gold’ which includes a vast selection of trusted quality products across categories such as ethnic wear, jewelry as well as home and kitchen.

Under the Loyalty Program, customers have placed 14 million orders and were rewarded smartcoins worth Rs 50 crore. During the festive sale, children took centre stage as parents and families celebrated with an upsurge in kids' wear purchases by 114 per cent. With the ongoing Cricket World Cup, customers flocked to purchase a wide range of products including team jerseys, cricket bats, gloves, bat tape, umpire counters, stumps, wickets, and caps.

Meesho’s next event 'Maha Diwali Sale' will be live between October 27 to 31 October.

Meesho’s rival Flipkart witnessed a record 1.4 billion customer visits during its flagship festival sales event “The Big Billion Days' (TBBD) 2023”. The event, which started on October 8 (with early access for VIP and Plus customers from October 7) and ended on October 15, “received a great response from both customers and extensive network of sellers across the country”, said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer of Flipkart Group.

Choices in smartphones, laptops, tablets, and home appliances indicated a strong premiumisation trend across India this year. Televisions, audio devices, smartphones, and grooming products were also among the leading choices.

According to Flipkart executives, deliveries were made to remote places, such as Andaman, Hayuliang (Arunachal Pradesh), Choglamsar (Ladakh), Kutch (Gujarat), and Longewala (Rajasthan).

Flipkart's 'kirana' partners delivered over 4 million packages in the first four days of TBBD 2023.

Flipkart said seller success reached new heights on India's homegrown e-commerce marketplace with 2x crorepati seller growth over TBBD 2022.

Amazon India's Great Indian Festival (GIF), which also began on the same day with access for Prime members beginning a day earlier, generated a record 95 million customer visits in 48 hours. However, the GIF is a month-long event. Amazon recently said shopping by its Prime members spiked 18 times in the first 24 hours (early access period) of the month-long GIF versus average daily purchase

E-commerce retailers are expected to garner sales worth Rs 90,000 crore this festival season, 18 to 20 per cent higher than last year, according to a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants. This shall be driven by about 140 million shoppers who are expected to be transacting online at least once during the festival month.

- Customers placed Rs 72 orders per second on the platform for top categories such as Fashion, Home & Kitchen as well as Beauty & Personal Care
 

- ‘Meesho Mall’ witnessed 70% of orders coming from first-time Mall users
 

- Categories like Beauty & Personal Care witnessed over 80% growth, while Men's Fashion grew by 90% and Home Decor grew by 75%
 

- Since announcing profitability in July, the company continues to remain profitable and cash flow positive