How Amazon, Woodland, ASICS, Madame, other retailers are gearing up for upcoming festive sales surge

Retail brands and even shopping malls are relying on the festive season for sales upsurge after two rather dull years, courtesy restrictions caused by the pandemic. The industry hopes a slew of product launches, offers and discounts will drive sales during the festivities. The sales upsurge is expected to come from metros as also tier-II and -III towns of India. In fact, the smaller towns are registering an increased participation in online commerce during the festive season. A Redseer report said that participation of online shoppers during the festive week (those who shop during festive sales) has doubled from 18 per cent in CY18 to a projected 38 per cent in CY22. This has been due to increasing penetration in tier-II cities, among other reasons. “Today, 65 per cent of our customer orders and 85 per cent of new customers on Amazon.in and 50 per cent of our million plus sellers come from tier-II and -III cities and towns,” said Amazon India spokesperson.