Flipkart Big Billion Day 2016, Amazon Great Indian Sale, Snapdeal Unbox Sale Offers to Go Head to Head

It's that time of the year when most e-commerce companies in India kick off their annual sales, in the build up to Diwali, the festival of lights. Online marketplaces Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal are geared up for their annual festival sales starting the first week of October. Other major retailers like ShopClues are also set to flag off their festive season sale.

The headline battle will of course be between Flipkart's Big Billion Days 2016 and Amazon Great Indian Sale, but there's a lot more on offer as well. Let's take a closer look at what you can expect in terms of deals this festive season.

Flipkart Big Billion Days 2016
Flipkart will start the third instalment of its Big Billion Days sale on October 2, and it will last till October 6. It is going to have a huge set of discounted products lined up, and SBI debit card holders will get an additional flat discount of 10 percent.

The first day of Flipkart's Big Billion Days will let you shop products in the category for fashion, home décor, televisions, and home appliances. Flipkart will sell mobiles and mobile accessories on the second day of the sale, while the third day will be for all other electronic items. Day 4 and 5 of Flipkart Big Billion Days 2016 will be for the complete range of products. Flipkart has also introduced 'Your Wish, Our Offer', where highly-wishlisted products will garner you more deals and discounts on them. It is worth mentioning that in a bid to reassure buyers after the blunders made in the 2014 edition of the sale, Flipkart claims this year's sale will be glitch-free and more convenient for the customers.

Flipkart is also hosting an offer to win a Moto Deck Bluetooth speaker for the customers who upgrade the Flipkart app during the period from 12:00am September 23 to 11:59pm October 1, i.e. just before the Flipkart Big Billion Days 2016 begin. You can check the terms and conditions for the offer on Flipkart's App Contest page.

Amazon Great Indian Sale
Amazon India in the meanwhile is also set to lure new and existing buyers with its Great Indian Festival that is scheduled to start from October 1 and will end on October 5. In addition to offering huge discounts on a range of products, Amazon has also announced Curtain Raiser Deals, where users can choose between two groups of products - the one with the most votes will go on sale at 12am on October 1. If you have an HDFC card (credit or debit), you can avail an additional cashback of 15 percent on Amazon app and 10 percent on the website.

The Amazon Great Indian Sale will also offer discounts of up to 15 percent on jewellery, 40 percent on televisions, 50 percent on kitchen essentials, flat 50 percent on ethnic clothings and up to 70 percent on other products. It will be a good deal for the customers who have opted in for Amazon Prime service for same-day and two-day deliveries. To recall, Amazon Prime is offered free of cost for first 60 days of activating it, and will cost you Rs. 499 post that.

Just like Flipkart's Big Billion Days 2016, Amazon Great Indian Sale also has an app-only 'Wish & win' contest to win a Noble Skiodo 4K UHD LED TV. Remember, this offer is not valid on the Amazon app installed on iPhone 4 or below, Windows phones, and tablets. You can check the terms and conditions of the offer here.

Snapdeal Unbox Sale
Snapdeal will kick off its five-day Unbox Diwali Sale from October 2 to 6. After an entire overhaul, Snapdeal has named its Diwali sale after its new tagline 'Unbox Zindagi'. Shoppers will be able to select from a wide range of products with hourly deals, with discounts up to 70 percent as part of the Snapdeal Unbox Sale. With the recently launched Snapdeal Gold service, users can get the products with free next-day deliveries for select locations, no shipping charges and extended 14-day return policy.

Snapdeal also has another special feature of the Unbox sale, Snapdeal Diwali packs that is curated by leading consumer brands. Besides, Snapdeal is offering instant 5 percent discounts on buying through any debit or credit card for a select range of products with a minimum transaction of Rs. 1,000. You can read more about details of the Snapdeal Unbox Sale as well as terms and conditions on Snapdeal website.

Other sales and offers
ShopClues will start its annual Diwali Sale from October 1, and it will last till October 10. It is the only 10-day sale and houses a wide range of products at discounted rates. The offers are on the product categories like Home & Kitchen, Electronic and Fashion.

Paytm usually has its big sale after everyone else, and we should find out details of its Diwali plans pretty soon.

How to get the most out of Diwali sales and offers by Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, and others
In order to make you sail through the sales this festive season, here's what you need to do, little things that will make your shopping convenient:

• Remember to sign into the respective e-commerce website for a faster checkout.
• If you already have a product in mind that you want to buy, add that item to your wishlist before the sale starts, so you can find it easily.
• Get your credit and debit cards ready and added on the e-commerce website if you want to pre-pay for the products. Obviously, shopping through cards will give you additional discounts.
• If you're using an app, check if you have the latest version of the respective marketplace's app. Remember, buying from an app might give you more discounts and instant deals.
• Sort out the Internet connectivity issues, if any, before the sale starts. You may not want Internet woes to take that deal away right under your nose.

Do you have more suggestions on how to make most out of this festive season sale? Let us know via the comments below.