Flipkart Vs Amazon Vs Snapdeal: Discount war rages on but who is really winning?

E-retail majors in India - Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal are raining one offer after the other, in a bid to lure consumers. As the discount war rages on, all the e-commerce giants have claimed that they are winning the race with lakhs of transactions taking place on their platforms.

 

As of now leading the competition is India's largest online retail company - Flipkart, which claims that the company recorded its highest-ever single day sales and has sold products worth ₹1,400 crore, Times of India reported.

 

"Crossing the ₹1,000-crore mark was a milestone for the company which began life by selling books nine years ago," the ToI report said quoting Flipkart's co-founder and CEO Binny Bansal.

 

Not one to be left behind, Amazon, which started its 5-day special online sale started on October 1 claimed that it has seen six times growth over its regular business. Soon after this, Flipkart, also said that the number of product units sold in the first 6 hours of sale surpassed the total units sold in a day during the first day of its The Big Billion Days in 2015.

 

Snapdeal claimed nearly 11 lakh buyers from over 2,800 cities and towns across India used its platform in the first 16 hours of its sale.

 

There is also an intense price war is being fought between Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal. In here, according to data provided by research and advisory firm RedSeer Consulting, Flipkart and Amazon are offering the lowest prices while Snapdeal has fallen by wayside, Financial Express reported.

 

Amid all the claims, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey came out with a rather realistic insight. The survey stated that despite Flipkart's larger presence in India, the Indian consumers seem to prefer Amazon over Flipkart.

 

Currently, Flipkart has about 43% of India’s e-commerce market, while Amazon has about 28% share, estimates Merrill.

 

The Merrill's online survey of 1,000 consumers found that 52% of consumers preferred Amazon, 34% chose Flipkart and only 8% picked Snapdeal. Merrill estimates that by 2019, the US e-commerce giant can control 37% of the $43 billion e-commerce market in India.

 

“Contrary to the general perception, our survey indicated that the users have started to develop brand loyalties, as only 4% of the users went to the cheapest offer,” noted Merrill. What matter most is customer service not price, the survey concluded.