ShopClues.com records bumper sales during festive season

CONNAUGHT PLACE, India - Nov. 21, 2013 - PRLog -- New Delhi, 20th November 2013: Riding high on the festive spirit, ShopClues.com, India’s first and fully managed marketplace, has witnessed 55% growth in sales so far in the last quarter of the year. More than half the orders came from non-metro cities as hefty discounts, prompt delivery and the convenience of shopping anytime from their homes attracted customers to ShopClues.

ShopClues offered attractive discounts of up to 75% across product categories with the promise of “Big Range, Bigger Discount and Biggest Savings” at its “Diwali Mega Mall”. Fashion and accessories, home décor, laptops, mobile phones and tablets, cameras proved to be the most popular categories. Other categories where sales performance exceeded expectations include electronics and home appliances, auto accessories, kitchenware, perfumes and toys.

“We've observed a perceivable hike in uptake of Diwali products this year. ShopClues offered the largest collection of Diwali lights and decoration items, which received a very good response. The trend was especially prominent in smaller towns where buyers clearly preferred to shop from the vast variety of products available online than buy from local bazaar,” said Sanjay Sethi, CEO & Co-Founder, ShopClues. Festive season specials such as gold coins, jewellery, ethnic-wear, mithai and dry-fruits also found their way easily into shopping carts.

More than half the sales this Diwali came from non-metro cities like Jaipur, Ahemdabad, Pune and Lucknow, with substantial numbers clocking from the likes of Patiala, Rajkot, Ernakulam, Ranchi and Mysore. Buyers from tier 2-3 cities even picked up products from seemingly unconventional categories like gardening implements, fitness equipment, housekeeping and cleaning products, home-theater systems, etc.

Besides the convenience of shopping comfortably from home, the attractive deals and discounts offered by online sites were key drivers for customers. According to Radhika Aggarwal, Corporate VP – Marketing & Merchandising & Co-Founder, “Being sensitive to the macro-environment, the customer today is thrifty and looks for good deals and discounts. Some of our innovative offers in the ShopClues Diwali Mega Mall attracted even new customers to our site, like the steel kitchenware sale or the Bollywood saree sale.”

ShopClues recently launched a novel initiative called the National Retail Heritage featuring more than 40,000 products like handicrafts, textile and jewelery, from 10 iconic marketplaces of India, including Agra, Jaipur, and Panipat. Lucknow, Ludhiana and Nai Sadak and Nehru Place in Delhi, among others. In the Diwali season, NRH is offering popular sweetmeats from 4 Indian cities – Agra’s Panchii Petha, Lonavala’s Chikki, Rajasthani Soan Papri and Kanpur’s Thaggu Ladoo. “ShopClues is a true reflection of how India likes to shop and with this exciting initiative we have brought the Best of India to your doorstep,” said Radhika Aggarwal.

In keeping with the spirit of Diwali, ShopClues urged customers to experience the joy of giving by shopping from the special Share a Smile catalog, where 10% of the sale proceeds went to an NGO-Indha.

Sales of gift certificates also saw a spurt this month as several large enterprises placed bulk orders for gifting to their staff. Other interesting trends include the clearly evident rise in the proportion of women-shoppers who are now contributing over 30% to sales. Also ShopClues saw a rise in pre-paid orders even as its affiliates and partner banks like Axis Bank, SBI, HDFC and ICICI offered deeper discounts on their cards.

About ShopClues.com (www.shopclues.com)

ShopClues.com is India’s first and the largest fully managed marketplace. It is fastest growing online market place and has crossed a significant milestone with the ecommerce firm now getting over 40, 000 peak orders in a day. The tremendous growth in order flows in a short span of just 22 months has established ShopClues as a pre-eminent player among ecommerce companies in the country. With over 9 million monthly visitors on the site and more than 2.5 million products worth Rs.6100 crore in listed merchandise value, the company has fast emerged as a preferred destination for shoppers.