E-commerce firms plan a big push for festive season

E-commerce firms have started preparing for their mega Diwali sale.

In the run up to Diwali, Snapdeal announced on Tuesday that it will be spending more than Rs 200 crores on a 360 degree marketing campaign over the next 60 days.

The new campaign will be launched next month on TV, YouTube, print, digital and social media and will also be seen outdoors on billboards and external installations.

It is designed to drive traffic and increase consumer awareness about the festive season offers that will be hosted by brand partners and lakhs of sellers on Snapdeal, said the company.

For e-commerce companies Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon involved in cut throat race to gain market share, Diwali is something they cant ignore. Flipkart’s ‘Big Billion Day’ sale during Diwali is its most important event in the whole year. Amazon has Great Indian Festive Sale during Diwali. “Diwali is the most relevant shopping season in India and we have decided to leverage this opportunity to strengthen our distinct position in consumers’ mind. It is not just advertising, but our whole ecosystem is gearing for the season. Our platform and logistics are geared to handle huge surges as India gets into the festive spirit, while our sellers are readying their stocks to offer the best assortment and choices to our consumers,” said Kanika Kalra, VP (marketing) at Snapdeal.

Key members of the leadership team spent over a week travelling the across country meeting both users and prospective users in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Guwahati, Bhopal, Rajkot, Nagpur, Madurai to understand what really matters to them. “The campaign is based on insights drawn from these meetings,” said Snapdeal. The company said that marketing investments, while timed with the festive season, are also part of a longer term effort to create a distinctive positioning.