Festivals bring $13 bn sale for e-tailers, MSMEs clock more Diwali orders

MSMEs from non-metro cities are clocking more Diwali orders this year than sellers from metro cities while the e-commerce opportunity could be at a staggering USD 13 billion for the Indian MSMEs during the festive season, says a report.

Tech-enabled logistics platform and unicorn Shiprocket in its report released on Thursday noted that with e-commerce gaining traction, it anticipates around 10-15 per cent of the total order volume to be attributed to first-time shoppers.

Shiprocket estimates the Indian e-commerce opportunity will be at a staggering USD 13-billion for the Indian MSMEs during the festive season, it said.

Observing that as much as 56 per cent of its order volume originates from non-metro cities, the platform said this underscores the rapid adoption of online shopping and digital transactions in smaller towns and rural areas.

In this spirit, MSMEs from tier-2, tier-3 and tier-4 cities are expecting higher Diwali gift orders than sellers from metro cities, it stated.

Shiprocket said it anticipates that around 10-15 per cent of the total order volume will be attributed to first-time shoppers, adding that Delhi NCR leads the charge with a commanding 28 per cent share of festive sales, closely followed by Mumbai at 13 per cent and Bengaluru at 7 per cent, as observed in the festive sales data.

With Delhi NCR being a thriving business environment, including a high number of MSMEs, this economic activity is fuelling consumer spending during the festive season, the platform said.

Shiprocket further said it is also witnessing a rise in festive exports from India with leading categories for global exports including artificial jewellery, beauty and grooming, clothing and accessories, healthcare, books, automotive accessories, home furnishings and decor, and pet supplies.

This demand is mostly driven by the US, the UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, France and the UAE, it said.

The company has also substantially expanded its warehousing capacity to cater to the surge in demand during the festive season with the addition of three warehousing facilities, it said adding that along with doubling the warehousing space to 2-million, the workforce has also gone up by 50 per cent to ensure efficient order processing and fulfillment.