Bengaluru: Amazon overtakes Flipkart to become the top online smartphone channel for the first time in India in the second quarter of this year, driven by Xiaomi, Samsung and OnePlus.
Amazon held 47 per cent market share, followed by Flipkart with 42 per cent and Mi with 10 per cent.
Even though the smartphone shipments in the online segment declined by 46% year on year due to Covid-19, the offline segment also declined by 54% year on year.
According to Counterpoint Research stats, 43% of smartphones purchased in India in the second quarter were online and it is an indication of a shift in consumer purchase behavior as they resort to online shopping.
While OnePlus was the top premium smartphone brand on Amazon, Realme remained the top brand on Flipkart.
Amazon saw strong shipments of Xiaomi Redmi 8A Dual, Samsung Galaxy M30s, and Galaxy M31 despite OnePlus remained the top premium smartphone brand.
Among the top ten smartphone models on Amazon, nine were from Xiaomi and Samsung.
Six out of the top ten online models were from Xiaomi, followed by Samsung with three models. Xiaomi Redmi 8A Dual was the best-selling device in the quarter.
Top models on Flipkart
Among the top ten models on Flipkart, five were from Realme. Newly launched Narzo 10 series drove the shipments for the brand.
Realme, Xiaomi, Samsung, and Poco contributed most for Flipkart and accounted for more than three-fourths of its total smartphone shipments.
Poco maintained its strong performance in online channels in the second quarter of the year. Poco X2 was the second-highest shipped model on Flipkart.
Prachir Singh, Senior Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said that the pandemic had a huge impact on the overall smartphone market, April being a washout month.
“Online channels’ shipments also declined compared to the last year. However, due to the current circumstances, consumers prefer online platforms. We have already witnessed pre-Covid level shipments at the end of the second quarter due to the pent-up demand created in the market by the nationwide lockdown,” he said.
Looking forward, he said that online channels are expected to remain strong this year and taking a 45% share in the Indian smartphone market for the full year.
Shilpi Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said that Xiaomi remained the market leader in online channels with 44% market share, followed by Samsung with 25 per cent market share and Realme with 16 per cent.
“We believe that offline channels will fare better during the latter half of the year. Vivo remained the top brand in offline channels, followed closely by Samsung. Vivo Y91i was the top model for offline channels,” Jain said.