Republic Day 2024: E-Commerce Order Volume Surged 18.7% During Republic Day Sale: Report

E-commerce order item volume surged by 18.7% during the Republic Day sale in 2024, as compared to last year's sale period, said IPO-bound e-commerce enablement SaaS platform Unicommerce. The Unicommerce report analyzed order items processed through its platform during the nine days (January 13-21) of the Republic Day Sale.

As per the report, the growth of e-commerce during the sale period was driven by attractive deals and countrywide marketing campaigns done by leading marketplaces.

This helped marketplaces record a stellar year-on-year (Y-o-Y) order growth of 28.7% during the period. In contrast, Brand websites, reported a muted Y-o-Y growth of just 1.7%, while average order value continued to "showcase strong growth."

As per the orders processed through Unicommerce's platforms, high growth rates were reported in Northeast states, with Nagaland and Meghalaya taking the lead to become the top two states in terms of order volume growth.

The report highlighted that consumer familiarity with e-commerce was visible during the period with a 20.6% jump in prepaid orders. Meanwhile, Cash-on-delivery orders grew 16.2% during the sale period.

"The consistent e-commerce growth affirms the strength and potential of India's e-commerce industry. E-commerce continues to become a larger part of the retail ecosystem, and sellers are focusing on both online and offline sale channels, in tune with the evolving shopping habits of buyers," said Kapil Makhija, MD and CEO, Unicommerce.

It is worth mentioning that Republic Day e-commerce sales this year have primarily been driven by electronics, smartphones in particular. In the ongoing Republic Day sale, the newly launched Apple iPhone 15 is being sold at a discount of up to Rs 11,000 at Rs 68,990 compared to the starting price of Rs 79,990 in India.