Kolkata : Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, today announced that it will kick off the country’s festive season with the 8th edition of its biggest flagship event, The Big Billion Days (TBBD), from October 7 to 12, 2021.
The 6-day event will see millions of consumers, sellers, small businesses, artisans, Kiranas, brands and e-commerce ecosystem partners celebrate the upcoming festive season. In a first, non-Plus customers will be able to gain early access by redeeming 50 earned SuperCoins on the Flipkart app.
This year, The Big Billion Days will bring forth several new opportunities for homegrown brands and sellers to celebrate with consumers across the country, from metros to Tier 2 cities and beyond.
Over the past year and a half, Flipkart’s focus has largely been to build and aid a collaborative and democratic retail ecosystem for MSMEs to revive and revitalize their businesses. Flipkart has left no stone unturned in bringing value to consumers in every part of the country by expanding choice and bringing the prowess of technology to all. This year will see a host of new launches, games, interactive videos, live streams and rewards throughout TBBD. Consumers can expect a special and immersive shopping experience, like never before.
Announcing the launch of The Big Billion Days 2021, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO – Flipkart Group, Flipkart said, “Every year, The Big Billion Days marks the beginning of India’s festive season and each time we set out to deliver the best possible experience for all our consumers, sellers and brand partners. Over the past year, in collaboration with our ecosystem partners, we’ve worked towards creating opportunities that revitalize consumer sentiment in these challenging times and revive India’s economic growth. Flipkart’s commitment to providing value to consumers, opportunities for growth for MSMEs, sellers and our lakhs of Kirana partners, and employment generation through e-commerce, goes to show how the country has embraced e-commerce over the past year and a half and The Big Billion Days is our way of giving back to the community and enthuse the festive spirit across the nation.”
Flipkart continues to strengthen its seller base and is on track to have 4.2 Lakh sellers on its platform by December 2021. Currently, the Flipkart Marketplace supports digital commerce for 3.75 Lakh sellers.
Flipkart has already onboarded 75,000 new sellers on its platform over the last few months as MSMEs, and small business entrepreneurs continue to be enthused by the potential of e-commerce ahead of the festive season. The new sellers and MSME base predominantly come from Tier 2 and 3 markets such as Agra, Indore, Jaipur, Panipat, Rajkot, Surat, and many others.
The Flipkart marketplace platform has also witnessed the rise in categories such as General Merchandise, Home and Kitchen, and Personal Care. Each of these new sellers has the potential to generate additional direct and indirect jobs in the ecosystem, unlocking the potential of e-commerce as a sector contributing to economic growth.
Flipkart has significantly scaled up its supply chain capabilities, both in first- and last-mile delivery, largely in under-penetrated parts of the country. As e-commerce becomes more personalized for consumers across the country, the ‘Kirana Delivery Program’ initiative has helped onboard local general trade stores as delivery partners. This year, more than 1,00,000 Kirana partners from across the country from regions including Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), Khammam (Telangana) and Junagarh (Odisha).
In an attempt to bolster local economies, Flipkart has also been assisting kiranas with knowledge, expertise, experience and technology to make millions of deliveries in a safe and timely manner. The kirana delivery program has seen consistent growth over the past three years and today accounts for nearly one-third of Flipkart’s deliveries made in a month, further augmenting the speed and reach of the deliveries and supplementing the income of kirana partners significantly.
Flipkart Wholesale, the digital B2B marketplace of India’s homegrown Flipkart Group, through its partnerships with lending partners and fintech institutions aims to provide multiple credit offerings to more than 1.5 million Kiranas & SMEs to help them manage their working capital requirements and grow their business.
Through these new offerings, kiranas can avail instant credit at zero cost, through a seamless digital onboarding process and get credit up to 5 lakhs with an interest-free period up to 30 days. Kiranas can also avail the benefits of flexible repayment options through cash and online transfers as well as instant refunds in case of order cancellation, while seamlessly keeping a tab on their credit balance and bills. During The Big Billion Days Kiranas and retailers will have access to EasyEMI to make purchases affordable with incentives on transactions to further lower the interest on the EMI.
Flipkart, in partnership with Axis Bank and ICICI Bank, will offer 10% instant discount on Credit & Debit cards, along with assured cashback on wallet and UPI transactions through Paytm, making affordability even more accessible for consumers across India. This year, Flipkart customers will have an inclusive and consumer-centric shopping experience with the newly launched EMI facility on ‘Flipkart Pay Later’, which opens a credit line of up to Rs.70,000 for eligible customers, that can be paid back over flexible tenures of 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, enabling high-value purchases for them this festive season.
Flipkart will also facilitate no-cost EMIs from its brand and seller partners on a wide range of products — across 18 leading EMI options such as Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and others.
Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card is being offered as ‘Lifetime Free’ for the first time. Customers can get 5% Unlimited Cashback and additional discounts. Furthermore, Flipkart has partnered with multiple loyalty point catalogues to offer gift cards at the best value to its customers ahead of the festive season. Big Billion Day themed Gift Card, a first of its kind product, is going live for customers to purchase and add to their wallets before the sale begins.
As part of the ‘Big Billion Days Specials’, exciting offers are slated on limited edition products across categories including Mobile, TVs & Appliances, Electronics & Accessories, Fashion, Beauty, Food, Toys, Baby Care, Home & Kitchen, Furniture, Grocery etc. Flipkart has built over 100+ new partnerships with brands across categories to bring forth a wide assortment of 10,000+ new products to ensure there is something special for every kind of shopper.
This year, on its Video platform, Flipkart will also enhance consumers’ entertainment experiences through interactive shows that come with commerce-linked rewards. “The Big Billion Muqabla” is a unique gaming experience that will allow users the opportunity to play with their friends and family.
The Big Billion Days this year will bring exciting and stellar offers each hour, brought by lakhs of sellers and thousands of brands across categories. Every visitor on Flipkart will have a chance to win ‘TBBD Shagun’ this year, which includes rewards that will make the festive season special. Consumers will also get to utilize their ‘SuperCoins’ as they shop on the platform to get ‘Rewards Pass’ for never-before deals and up to 2,000 bonus coins for additional shopping.
The ‘Big Billion Days Dhamaal’ is a live stream that will be aired for 1 hour daily at 8 PM on the Flipkart app, beginning 1 week before the Big Billion Days, giving users an interactive experience with an array of celebrities and influencers, with a chance to shop and win multiple rewards as part of the show.
Launching for the very first time this TBBD, customers will have the chance to play an exciting game on the app, where they can grow their own ‘celebration tree’ by completing various tasks on the Flipkart app. For every virtual tree completed, Flipkart will plant a tree in real life associated with GiveIndia.
This year, Flipkart has partnered with India’s favourite celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Virat Kohli, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Sudeep Kiccha, and Mahesh Babu, who will be seen in creative avatars as they celebrate The Big Billion Days event.
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