By Neha Kulwal, Managing Director, India and Apac, Mitgo
With just a couple of weeks to go until the biggest sale of the year, brands and marketplaces are busy preparing for the hottest period of 2023. Admitad partner network analysed online sales during Black Friday last year and estimated Ecommerce trends for 2023. The company predicts a 70% jump in online sales in India and has highlighted the types of products that will be most in demand among Indians this year, as well as suggested where brands can find new customers.
In order to predict the most popular categories of goods and efficient traffic channels, Admitad partner network analyzed over 148 million online orders worldwide and over 13.4 million online orders in India.
Spike in sales will be lower but longer
In 2022 Black Friday sales globally once more broke records. Experts in the field claimed that global orders have, on average, increased from 2% to 15% from 2021. The mere fact that growth was occurring in the current economic climate and amid rising inflation was unquestionably a good sign for business. This year Indian brands should also see moderate sales growth relative to the results of 2022.
According to Admitad, shoppers in India increased their orders by 65% and their spending by 64% during the sale week compared to the “usual” period. This year we can expect an even higher spike, because Admitad estimates that in 2023 the total number of online purchases in India is growing by at least 10% year-on-year. According to experts’ estimates, brands can expect a jump of 70% or more.
Every year, we observe that consumer activity is dispersed more evenly throughout the sale period and is less focused on Friday. А lot of companies extended the sale period to include the days leading up to and following Black Friday. As a result, the difference in shoppers’ activity on Friday and other sale days became less drastic compared to previous years. This indicates that some of the “additional” orders were dispersed over different days.
To avoid missing out on this extra shopper activity – brands should plan their actions for additional weeks before and after the sale, rather than limiting themselves to just the Black Friday weekend.
What type of goods will Indians crave?
In 2022, marketplaces took the lead globally, accounting for, on average, more than 60% of all sales. However, users on both online marketplaces and individual brand stores engaged in very similar shopping behaviours and shared product interests.
Last year, items from the “Fashion” and “Home Goods” categories overtook electronics, which had previously held the top spot on the leaderboard. Furniture and household goods took a huge leap forward and shot to the top of the list. The distribution of user orders overall across the globe was as follows:
● Fashion (clothes, accessories, shoes, watches) 29.2%
● Home and garden – 21.1%.
● Electronics and smartphones – 16.4%
● Baby products, toys, and games – 10.4%
● Beauty and health – 7.4%
● Sporting goods – 3.9%
● Car products – 3.8%
● Tools – 3%
● Other – 4,8%
The online services sector took a more active role in sales. In order to determine their role last year, Admitad also examined the total volume of sales, including those from online services. On Black Friday in 2022, event tickets (10.6%), various online services (6.8%), and PC and mobile games (6%) held the top three positions.
Indian customers followed global trends in terms of increased interest towards fashion and home goods, but spent much more on online games and much less on electronics and tickets compared to global purchase activity.
All of the above categories are still relevant in 2023, but some of them have become even more popular with Indians. These major product categories currently show the most significant growth:
● Fashion (apparel, footwear, accessories) +31%
● Mother & Kids +28%
● Beauty products +14%
Where to attract customers?
Admitad estimates that in 2022 content websites and online media attracted more than 23% of all global sales during Black Friday shopping frenzy. Users who used offers from cashback services placed an additional 20.3% of orders. 14,4% of purchases were made by visitors to affiliate websites, more than 9% – by coupon users. Brands received an additional 8.6% of sales from contextual advertising and 8.2% from social media.
Cashback services played an even more important role for local Indian shoppers, accounting for almost 30% of all purchases in the country. Mobile apps and social networks also had higher buying activity.
It’s also important to pay attention to those sales sources that are rapidly gaining popularity among Indians in 2023 and increasing number of sales:
● Contextual advertising +33%
● Loyalty programs +25%
● Price comparison websites +13%
More and more brands are implementing partner marketing in their strategies – number of Indian companies working with that tool increased by 7% in 2023. The reasons for the growth are clear – partner marketing allows businesses to cover absolutely all ways of attracting customers and to get maximum coverage while not risking the budget when experimenting with new traffic channels. Affiliate sales and publisher’s profits during Black Friday are expected to update record highs. Admitad estimates that publisher’s profits across the globe jumped by 37% during this period in 2022, and this year they can expect even higher revenues.
It’s important to consider popular categories and capitalise on the growing influence of certain traffic channels. This will allow brands to maximise sales and not lose out in the sale battle for customers.