Prime time for online shopping: Amazon, Flipkart, others have most shoppers during this time

While night time may not see much traction for offline stores or shopping malls, e-commerce companies such as Amazon, Flipkart and others are witnessing a new trend where most of the shoppers shop during 8 pm to 11 pm.  “There is a phenomenon of ‘prime time’ that is apparent in digital shoppers today…This reinforces the consumer’s quest for convenience with anytime anywhere access to the shopping cart,” Kunal Gupta, Head E-Commerce, Nielsen, South Asia said in a statement early this week. According to Nielsen’s findings, 23% of sales happen between 8 pm-11 pm and a third of the sales come through the course of the night. Peaking at around 11 pm, the sales then gradually fall till 5 am. 

Will only shop during sales

Another evolving consumer trend in e-commerce is consumers withholding their purchases till the discount season, which in India coincided with the festive season starting Navratri. Sales for many e-tailers spiked on 27 September 2019 as many online shopping platforms including Flipkart, Amazon, Nykaa etc announced their flagship sales. Prior to the festive season, from Independence Day sale to Diwali sales, online shopping remained largely muted as shoppers held back purchases in the wait of discount days, Nielsen said. “The longer the gap the more is the offtake. Stark jump and drop in sales on the start and end dates,” the report added. Around 43% of festive sales took place in the first week 27 Sep-5 October. The sales gradually depleted with 24% in the second week and 17% in the third week ending roughly 26 October.

Meanwhile, the rising internet penetration has spelt success for e-commerce platforms as one in every two online shoppers is a first-time buyer on these platforms. Sales are largely driven by FMCG items such as shampoo, cosmetics, food and beverages in terms of volume of orders and by mobile phones in terms of the value of orders.