Bengaluru, Oct 20 (IANS): E-commerce platforms in India clocked a gross merchandise value (GMV) of Rs 47,000 crore in the first week of the festive sale season, growing at 19 per cent from the same period last year, a new report showed on Friday.

High average selling price (ASP) items such as mobiles, electronics and large appliances emerged as the largest contributor to the sales, driving 67 per cent of the total sales, according to the report from market research firm Redseer Strategy Consultants.

Trends suggest that low ASP categories like fashion, beauty and personal care (BPC) and home will continue to grow in the remaining festive season, the report added.

Flipkart Group continued to assert its leadership in the week 1 of the festive season sale, further gaining market share over last year’s sale to reach 63 per cent in GMV terms. In volume terms, Meesho retained its second position, notably gaining market share to reach 25 per cent of the total orders, up from 21 per cent in 2022.

"While the Indian consumers are holding back discretionary spends, they are willing to spend it they get the desired value or deals," said Abhishek Tandon, engagement manager, Redseer.

Eight out of the nine days of the sale period this year were in the ‘shradh’ period, compared to four out of the nine days in 2022.

"This led consumers to over-index purchases towards 'essential upgrades' in this festive season, and to prioritise buying/upgrading high ASP categories such as mobiles, electronics and large appliances, which typically have time-bound deals with easy financing options," the findings showed.

The last day of the week 1 sale, the only ‘non-shradh’ day, saw a 36 per cent YoY growth compared to the last day of week 1 in 2022.

Further, 30 per cent of the consumers who shopped high ASP categories in Week 1, utilised easily accessible financing options while making these purchases, said the report. About 55 per cent of the consumers who shopped during Week 1 are planning to make more purchases in the remaining festive season, with more than 50 per cent planning to make these purchases in fashion and over 25 per cent of these consumers planning to purchase other low ASP categories like BPC and home and living.

E-commerce giants Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and others began the festive season sales from October 7 which is expected to reach Rs 90,000 crore worth online GMV in the festive month -- up 18-20 per cent from last year’s festive month sales.