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D2C Pulse is a newsletter written by the team at GlobalBees, curating happenings in the direct-to-consumer ecosystem of India.

The week went in a blur and there was not an hour when we did not hear about deal of the day, price drops, CPC increasing, opt-ins, home page banners, etc. Delhi felt like Banglaore- not the traffic but the weather. With Wave 2 of the festive sale in full flow, let’s get to it…

What’s sizzling hot? 🔥

We’re smack in the middle of e-commerce festive the sale season. Some early numbers have started coming in. The e-commerce industry in India achieved $5.7 billion of online retail sales this year during the first week of festive sales (22 -30 September) – which is a 27% year-on-year growth according to Redseer. The company also went on to say that Flipkart took the lead in GMV, which Amazon has disputed. Grab some popcorn.

It also went on to mention that SoftBank-backed Meesho has become the second-largest player among the e-commerce platforms, overtaking Amazon in terms of order volume during the first week of the festive season. 

Meanwhile, in an updated story Yourstory has reported that the online festive sale season saw 5.4X growth in daily sales across platforms with a 3X jump in volume of shipments.

Tier II is definitely providing a thrust. Amazon India recorded a two-fold jump in its customer base from Tier II and Tier III cities during the first 36 hours of its festive season sale as they accounted for 75% of its total customer base during its 'Great Indian Festival.’ Flipkart too saw more than 60% of customers from Tier II and Tier III cities.

🗞️Marketplace Updates

• Amazon is at it 24x7. Amazon India is among 314 applicants that have been granted approval to operate 24/7 in the national capital and a notification to this effect will be issued within a week, an official from the Delhi Lieutenant Governor office said on Sunday.

• Flipkart has reportedly burnt $1.1 Bn in cash between February and July this year.

• Udaan will provide medicine delivery to pharmacies every 4 hours with four delivery slot options (5 am, 11 am, 2 pm and 5 pm) across six cities Kolkata, Jaipur, Indore, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Pune.

• Temasek Leads $9 Mn Round In Indian Used Bike Marketplace BeepKart

🍕D2C Bites

• Sanity in Vanity😇: Clean beauty startup Vanity Wagon has secured $2 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding from Lotus Herbals and Agility Ventures Partners. Vanity Wagon is a Delhi-based clean beauty ecommerce marketplace. It offers clean beauty and wellness products in various categories including body, hair and face care, makeup, and mom and baby products.

• Tata’s Tiara👑: Tatas quietly mint a unicorn with CaratLane. In May 2016, Tata Group-owned Titan acquired Tiger Global’s entire 62% stake in CaratLane. At Rs 357 crore. Brokerages tracking Titan, ranging from Macquarie to JP Morgan, have pegged the valuation of CaratLane between Rs 15,000-25,000 crore. Whoa!

• Diwali Cocktail🍸: Try a new cocktail this Diwali season Jimmy's Cocktail has collaborated with Sleepy Owl Coffee to Launch an Espresso Martini Cocktail Mixer

• Dracarys🐲: Can’t beat Beers and Dragons. Bira 91 to Unveil House of the Dragon-Inspired Merch for Fans in India.

📢Leader Speak

Get the latest on what D2C Founders and Leaders had to say this week!

Reads and Recommendations 📚

• The ultimate list of (54) free marketing courses. Bookmark this one!

• Need help with content marketing? Use AI!

• Costco’s popular chickens have stayed fixed at $4.99 for more than a decade. How?

• A trippy video on how plants move in a 24hrs period.

• Check out the most visited website in every country. Check out which countries’ most visited site was Delfi, Kooora, Khanbank.

  Speaking of websites, here’s something happening at our very own shopping site.

  • The Brand Teams at GlobalBees went into overdrive in the past weeks. Here’s a peek at some of our new launches. It’s that kinda stuff you not only want but stuff you need.

🚩Poll Call

Starting this week, we’ll share a poll for our readers about something which folks in the D2C are talking about.

That’s all for this week! Bye!

Stay tuned for more.

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