MUMBAI: In a shift in the online retail landscape, D2C brands have outpaced marketplaces during the recent sale period, recording a 64% growth in orders from last year, compared to the 26% growth seen on marketplaces. This shift reflects growing shopper confidence and trust in D2C brands making them inert to marketplace sales.
Major marketplaces of the Indian eCommerce ecosystem ran their biggest festive sales starting from 25 September all the way till Dussehra. Earlier, D2C brands used to witness a dip in orders during this time, but the wheel has shifted since last year.
D2C brands are now also running robust sales parallel to marketplace sales, and continuing to see a surge in order volume.
Footwear, a commonly offline dominant category, emerged as a leader in driving growth and saw a massive 273% increase in orders, followed by fashion & beauty, which saw an 84% and 73% increase in orders respectively.
Jewellery too, which is predominantly preferred to be bought online saw a 38% increase in orders. This cements the growing shopper trust in D2C that even offline heavy items are now being bought online.
“D2C is here and thriving, the ecosystem is expanding and the market is deepening. Shoppers are more confident about placing their bets on D2C now more than ever. The personalisation, niche products, and seamless shopping experience brands have been providing to these shoppers is reaping results,” said GoKwik co-founder, CEO Chirag Taneja.
Electronics, however, experienced a 3% slowdown, likely impacted by the rise of QuickCommerce, the dominance of marketplaces with high-end discounts on mobile phones, TV etc, and a possible resurgence in offline shopping as offline retailers have also been matching online deals.
Average Order Value (AOV) for D2C brands also saw an 11% jump year on year, from Rs. 1,368 to Rs. 1,869. Jewellery, often a category viewed with scepticism in the early days of eCommerce, led this surge, with AOV increasing from ₹1207 in 2023 to Rs. 1809 this year.
Payment behaviour has also undergone a transformation. GoKwik’s data reveals a 5% increase in prepaid orders, especially in fashion, where shoppers are increasingly opting to pay upfront.
“While UPI continues to be shoppers’ favourite prepaid mode of payment, EMI also seems to be the flavour of the season. With GenZ shopping more and more, brands are bridging the gap between aspiration and affordability by providing easy and flexible EMI options.” Chirag said.
Tier 1 contributed the most to this surge in orders, witnessing a 96% spike, an unusual trend during the festive season. Usually, these surge in orders during the festive season were led by Tier 3 cities. Tier 1 cities also saw the highest increase in AOV.
Geographically, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu continued to be the states with the highest surge in order volumes.
GoKwik houses over 10000 brands in its network including Lenskart, Neemans, Man Matters, Shoppers Stop, etc, ranging from fashion, beauty, health and nutrition, electronics and other key categories of the online shopping space. The eCommerce enabler expects this trend to continue in the next phase of the festive season leading upto Diwali.
