Flipkart confident of bumper sales season; says Amazon losing relevance

Indian online retailer Flipkart, owned by Walmart Inc, expects bumper sales during the annual festive season that just kicked off, as it boasts that U.S. rival Amazon Inc is losing relevance in India.

Flipkart and Amazon both began their flagship annual sales in India on Wednesday, and will compete for shoppers during the October-December festive season when most big-ticket purchases are made in the country.

"Flipkart is expecting a big spike in (its) `Big Billion Days` sales over last year," its Chief Executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy told reporters at the e-commerce company`s Bengaluru-headquarters late on Wednesday, referring to Flipkart`s annual sale.

Company executives said Flipkart`s deeper push into India`s small towns and cities, its range of cheap, high-quality private label products and the wide assortment of smartphones will boost its sales during this year`s event.

The `Big Billion Days` sale will go on until Oct. 14, while Amazon`s rival sale dubbed the `Great Indian Festival` will finish on Oct. 15, according to its website.

Krishnamurthy said Flipkart is not worried about its rival stealing customers.

"Do we worry about them? On a scale of 0 to 10, it is close to 0 today. We don`t see that much of relevance for the Indian user coming from our competition today," Krishnamurthy said. "We see them as becoming a global platform for premium Indian books and home goods buyers."

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The two companies have been locked in a pitched battle to gain share in India`s burgeoning e-commerce market, which is tipped to grow to be worth $200 billion a year in a decade, according to Morgan Stanley.