Blinkit and Zepto, two major quick commerce platforms, are venturing into the fashion segment by partnering with apparel firms and sellers. They plan to add categories like fashion, beauty, electronics, toys, and home and kitchen. Zepto, the first unicorn of 2023, has already achieved $1 billion in annualized gross sales. These platforms are expected to significantly impact established ecommerce rivals Flipkart and Amazon, as well as nearby kiranas, by increasing the scale of quick commerce.
Flipkart Internet, the marketplace arm of Walmart-owned ecommerce firm Flipkart, received a cash infusion of about Rs 924 crore ($111 million) from its related entities based in Singapore. This investment comes as rival Amazon has invested over Rs 1,000 crore in its India entities this year. Flipkart is also in talks to raise $1 billion, with parent Walmart committing to inject $600 million. This article discusses the recent investments in Flipkart and its plans for future fundraising.
The India smartphone market remained stable in 2023 with a minor 2% decline in shipments, as per Canalys. Samsung led the market in Q4 2023 with a 20% share, followed by Vivo and Xiaomi. Realme recorded the highest fall in shipments, while Oppo’s market share remained unchanged. Growing investment in mainline retail space played a significant role in stabilizing the market. Xiaomi and Realme saw their highest offline shipment share in Q4.
Ecommerce discounts and promotional offers came down on the third day of the biggest annual online festive sales, as brands and online sellers overachieved their targets reporting an over 25-30% surge in sales by value compared to the same sale period of last year. LG India has grown sales by over 30% with televisions, washing machines and refrigerators driving sales, including premium models.
Ecommerce sales are expected to grow 18-20% to around $11 billion during the upcoming festive season, according to a report by Redseer. This growth is higher than the GMV growth seen in the first half of the year but lower than last year’s festive season sales. The ecommerce platforms saw a modest increase of about 10% year-on-year from January to July in 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. Read more to find out the significance of festive season sales for companies and the expected trends in the ecommerce market.
Express e-grocer Zepto raises $200 million in funding, comprising over 81% of the total funding raised by startups in the week of August 19 to 25. Other startups in sectors like ecommerce, software-as-a-service, and healthtech raised $46 million. Fintech led with five deals. In total, startups raised $246 million across 18 funding deals, with early-stage deals being dominant.
