Online festive season sales hit record high in India: Report

India saw a 29% increase in online festive sales in September, setting a year-over-year (YoY) record, Oath, a Verizon subsidiary, announced on Monday.

At 42%, electronics led as the top-selling category online, with smartphones and headphones as top buys. Popular smartphone brands in India included Redmi, MI, Samsung and MOTO.

According to the report, the online festive shoppers are predominantly male (79%).

"The huge volume of data points across our brands gives us a comprehensive understanding of consumers in India and their behaviour," Erin Chao, Head of Platforms, APAC, Oath, said in a statement.

"These deep insights in turn are helping our advertisers to make sense of audiences' preferences and market trends at a very strategic level, to put in place data-driven marketing strategies during this crucial season," Chao added.

Tech-savvy millennials between 25-34 tend to shop more online during festivals, said the report. The findings were based on data points across these brands and an in-depth understanding of consumer behaviour based on content consumption by users.

Key insights

Online festive shopping begins as early as mid-September. Sales increased 29% year-over-year in September 2018 -- a record high for India's online festive shopping season.

At 12% Baby and Toddler products come in second after Electronics! Indians are heaping their carts with diapers, pants and wipes.

FMCG is a best seller: Shoppers are increasingly buying everyday products online, like sugar, shampoo, salt and toothpaste.

Indian online shoppers pay attention to hair care. Hair conditioner and hair-fall defense shampoos are both popular products. Shoppers also buy beauty products like whitening creams, face-restoring creams, body lotion and UV protection products online.

The top growing product category online is ECommerce prime services, with 4X growth YoY. More and more online shoppers are purchasing ECommerce prime services, which signals they not only care about the price, but also the service quality and guarantee.

Online bestsellers are well-known brands, implying price is not the only factor, but brands matter for Indian online shoppers.