E-tailers' war: Amazon's gross sales in India 21% higher than Flipkart's

Five years after setting foot on Indian soil, US online retail giant Amazon has emerged as the leader in the domestic e-commerce market, zipping past homegrown rival Flipkart in gross merchandise value (GMV), or gross sales, on its platform.

Amazon’s India unit clocked gross sales of $7.5 billion in the year ended March 31, 2018, while rival Flipkart’s sales stood at $6.2 billion, according to report by Barclays published on Monday. The report, however, did not include sales of Flipkart’s subsidiaries Myntra and Jabong. “While Amazon and Flipkart were neck and neck on GMV (gross merchandise value) in FY17, Amazon took the clear lead in FY18. The company (Amazon) generated $7.5 billion on GMV versus $6.2 billion for Flipkart, driven by its B2C unit which continues to grow its lead over Flipkart’s B2C unit,” said the Barclays report, reviewed by Business Standard.

At the time of announcing the Flipkart deal in May, Walmart had said the consolidated GMV of the Flipkart Group (including subsidiaries Myntra and Jabong) stood at $7.5 billion in FY18.

India, the last large open market globally, is witnessing a fierce battle for dominance in the e-commerce space, driven by the huge number of people flocking to online shopping sites. The world’s largest retailer (by revenue), Walmart, also jumped into the market earlier this year by acquiring 77 per cent in Flipkart for $16 billion.

Walmart’s move has pitted it directly against Amazon, which has almost exhausted its $5 billion investment commitment for India.

Flipkart and Amazon make up a majority of India’s online retail, which, Barclays predicts, would grow two-fold to $40-45 billion by 2020.

Amazon India