Indians spent big on festive season sales, UPI transaction up 40% in Oct: Report
Flipkart continues to drive strong growth in gross merchandise value (GMV), Walmart said, adding it was prioritising the holiday season in major markets including India which is expected to launch the country's biggest e-commerce sale – Big Billion Days, around Diwali.
The announcement comes at a time when the Indian government is coming up specific rules on flash sales.
As per the draft Consumer Protection Rules for the e-commerce sector, the government seeks to ban ''flash sales'' on e-commerce platforms if such sales are organised by fraudulently intercepting the ordinary course of business using technological means with an intent to enable only a specified seller or group of sellers managed by such entity to sell goods or services on the platform.
Last year, the company had claimed that half of its new customers came from Tier III and plus cities. This was across all categories on Day 1 of its Big Billion Days.
Flipkart which last month announced a $3.6 billion investment round was acquired by Walmart in 2018.
The current round takes its valuation to $37.6 billion, giving it firepower to compete with Amazon, Tata Digital Reliance in India, even as it prepares for a public listing in the US in the coming year.