New Delhi: As the festive celebrations are into its full throttle and market is flooded with lucrative offers and discounts, India witnessed a 29 per cent increase in online festive sales in September, setting a year-over-year (YoY) record. According to a report by Oath, a Verizon subsidiary, electronics emerged as the top-selling category online at 29 per cent hike with smartphones and headphones as the top buys. Popular smartphone brands in India included Redmi, MI, Samsung and MOTO. The report also stated that these online festive shoppers are predominantly male (79 per cent).

“The huge volume of data points across our brands gives us a comprehensive understanding of consumers in India and their behaviour,” Erin Chao, Head of Platforms, APAC, Oath, said in a statement. “These deep insights in turn are helping our advertisers to make sense of audiences' preferences and market trends at a very strategic level, to put in place data-driven marketing strategies during this crucial season,” Chao added.

Check out these key insights and online shopping trends during India’s festive season, based on Oath data:

1. Online festive shopping begins as early as mid-September. Sales increased 29 per cent year-over-year in September 2018 - a record high for India’s online festive shopping season.

2. Tech-savvy millennials between the age group of 25-34 years, with greater purchasing power, tend to shop more online during festivals. They adapt easily to new technology and are bargain hunters who zero in on the big discounts during the festive season.

3. At 12 per cent Baby and Toddler products come in second after Electronics. Indians are heaping their carts with diapers, pants and wipes.

4. FMCG is a best seller: Shoppers are increasingly buying everyday products online, like sugar, shampoo, salt and toothpaste.

5. Indian online shoppers also pay attention to hair care. Hair conditioner and hair-fall defense shampoos are both popular products. Shoppers also buy beauty products like whitening creams, face-restoring creams, body lotion and UV protection products online.

6. The top growing product category online is e-commerce prime services, with 4X growth YoY. More and more online shoppers are purchasing e-commerce prime services, which signals they not only care about the price, but also the service quality and guarantee.

7. Online bestsellers are well-known brands, implying price is not the only factor, but brands matter to Indian online shoppers.

8. The findings were based on data points across these brands and an in-depth understanding of consumer behaviour based on content consumption by users.