Republic Day sales, which began January 16 this year, kick off the annual event cycle for online retailers, followed by sales through summer, monsoon and the pre-festive period, before the peak festive season begins around September. While festive sales are month-long, other events take place for a shorter period of time.
Brands and analysts also pointed out that unlike festive season sales, which are demand led, events such as Republic Day sales are driven by discounting as companies look to offload their stocks across categories such as electronics, fashion and apparel, beauty and personal care, and home and kitchen goods.
“Republic Day sales are gaining momentum as they have become a structural part of the ecommerce calendar. Electronic items and mobiles are driving the sales. Fashion and beauty and personal care products are also seeing traction across platforms over the weekend,” said Ashish Dhir, senior director, consumer and retail at market intelligence firm 1Lattice.
This marks the first relatively large sale event since Diwali, after the ecommerce festival season clocked a gross merchandise value (GMV) of Rs 1.24 lakh crore, according to data from ecommerce consultancy Datum Intelligence. GMV is the total value of goods sold via ecommerce platforms, calculated before deducting any fees or expenses.
“Ecommerce sales during the Republic Day period don’t see significant GMV sales for platforms since there is no festival-driven sales happening during this time. But there will be discount-driven purchases happening,” Datum Intelligence founder Satish Meena said.
ETtechThe Republic Day sale events are mainly for liquidation discounting and hence brands don’t launch new products, Meena explained. However, as consumption has picked up, direct-to-consumer brands note an uptick in demand.
A Flipkart spokesperson said the company has witnessed a strong start to the sale.
“Since the sale began on January 16, the platform has recorded close to a 35% year-on-year increase in units sold over the first three days, reflecting robust customer interest and engagement,” the spokesperson said.
This year, Flipkart has seen customer demand for travel and lifestyle categories such as luggage, watches, and footwear; home and furniture; and sports, fitness, and nutrition, the spokesperson said.
Amazon India did not respond to ET’s queries.
Weekend shows early demand
According to brands, consumer spending shows healthy continuity after the festive season, indicating sustained demand rather than a sharp post-Diwali slowdown.
Indian fashion brand Libas reported 10-15% higher sales on the January 17-18 weekend compared with weekdays, while kitchen appliances startup Beyond Appliances posted tenfold growth compared to the same period last year.
These sale events also help brands liquidate older inventory by offering steep discounts.
“While such sale periods are typically leveraged for inventory clearance, for the brand this phase was growth-oriented rather than liquidation-driven. Traction was largely driven by new launches and fresh inventory, as opposed to heavy discounting of older stock,” said Eshwar K Vikas, founder and chief executive of Beyond Appliances.
Sidhant Keshwani, founder and CEO of Libas, said its old inventory is getting sold fast during these days of end of season sale, allowing the brand to put out its new collection. According to Keshwani, discounts on older items go as high as up to 70%, while discounts on new season merchandise are in the range of 20-30%.
“During the ongoing sales, the portfolio of Korean and Japanese beauty brands is seeing strong momentum, with sales scaling nearly 2X over business as usual (BAU) over the weekend and tracking close to 4X YoY growth,” said Radhika Ghai, founder and chief executive of beauty and personal care brand Kindlife.
The brand expects sales to be around three times over the course of the sale period compared with business as usual.
Even as ecommerce platforms began their sale events ahead of Republic Day, quick commerce players are likely to jump on to this closer to the date, as per industry executives.
