Flipkart Big Billion Days Sale: Over 30 Lakh Mobiles Sold on Day 1, With 10 Lakh in an Hour

Flipkart Big Billion Days Sale kicked off on Wednesday, with deals in the mobiles category starting from midnight on Thursday, though Flipkart Plus members got early access to these deals, starting from 9pm on Wednesday itself. The e-commerce company has now shared statistics of October 11, and called it the "single biggest sales day in the history of Indian retail."

In a statement to Gadgets 360, Flipkart claimed that that Thursday was the "record best start to the Big Billion Days sales," and that in 26 hours, it had achieved the same business it had in 5 days during last year's Big Billion Days sale. Flipkart said that it sold 10 lakh handsets in the first hour, and over 30 lakh on the day. This was claimed by the company to be a record across the whole mobile retail market in India.

Flipkart added it had features over 30 exclusive models during the sale, something that had resulted in the best ever sales for top brands including Samsung, Honor, Xiaomi, Asus, Nokia, Infinix, and Realme, among others. It said there have been a record 1 million users on its mobile app at any given point during Flipkart Big Billion Days sale, with a "record 99.9 percent uptime."

Ayyappan Rajagopal, Sr. Director, Flipkart, said in an emailed statement, "Today, we have broken all records and have set a new benchmark for mobile sales in Indian retail industry. We have cemented our position as the market leader by offering customers a stellar exclusive selection, affordability constructs like No Cost EMI and Buyback Guarantees, and service assurances through Complete Mobile Protection, which ensure the best experience for the customer. With this milestone, we are on track to capture 80 percent of the online market and 50 percent of the overall market of the country and continue being the only destination for smartphones."

In the electronics category, Flipkart said that Google Home overtook Amazon's Alexa to become India's largest smart speaker during the sale, and that 3 headphones have been sold every 2 seconds of the sale thus far. The online marketplace also said it was selling 1 laptop every minute, which is 4 times as fast as what India sells in a regular day.

Flipkart also said that its private labels reached as many customers in the first two days of the sale as they had in the first two months. Perfect Homes was said to have become India's largest furniture brand on Flipkart during Big Billion Days in terms of sales. Its MarQ brand was said to power 1 in every 5 ACs and washing machines sold on Flipkart during this edition of the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale.

As for Books & General Merchandise, Flipkart said 100 books were sold every minute during Early Access, and that 500 international branded perfumes were sold every minute, up from 100 a day during non-Flipkart Big Billion Days Sale business. In the refurbished category, Flipkart said its recently opened 2GUD platform has become "India's largest refurbished platform", with 35X growth in less than 24 hours of sale opening.

Finally, Flipkart Plus statistics were also revealed - the company said Early Access appeared to be attractive to consumers, as over 30 percent of all purchases came from Plus customers.