As the festive season is set to kickstart across the country, the online sales during the festive month will increase by 28 percent from last year to reach $11.8 billion, Redseer Strategy Consultants in its forecast report said.

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The Redseer report further claims that compared to pre-pandemic sales in 2018, a three times growth in online festive sales GMV will happen this year.

Redseer defines festive month as a period starting from the first sales event and lasting roughly till Diwali week, including non-sale or business as usual days in between.

“We are forecasting 4x growth in the number of online shoppers from 2018. This growth has been driven by accelerated digital adoption and increasing penetration in Tier 2+ cities. We expect this expanded customer base to reflect in higher sales during the festive sales period as well,” says Sanjay Kothari, Associate Partner, Redseer Strategy Consultants.

Also, online shoppers during the festive week will double from 18 percent in CY18 to a projected 38 percent in CY22. This means that out of total online shoppers, those who shop during festive sales have doubled from 2018.

“This is majorly due to increasing awareness of the festive sales among the shoppers, growing reach, targeted selection, and expansion of products within the affordability range for shoppers across city types”, adds Sanjay Kothari.

The report further states that the launch of new e-commerce models, such as live/video commerce, will further drive the growth of online shoppers during the festive period.

This year, the fashion category is expected to see robust growth driven by an increasing shopper base from Tier 2+ cities and first-time shoppers who generally tend to begin their online shopping journey with fashion.

An increasing participation of fashion-led players is also expected in the festive sales this year. In addition to this, the mobile and electronics category is expected to remain strong, driven by better deals and new launches.

Redseer reports that the massive growth in festive sales will further push the overall online retail GMV (Gross Merchandise Value), which stood at $52 billion in 2021, to grow by 30 percent to reach $68 billion in 2022.

For comparison across the years, the report considers the exchange rate of INR 70 per dollar.

Founded in 2009, Redseer Strategy Consultants is a leading strategy consulting firm that works with new-age consumer-focused businesses.