Walmart-owned Flipkart on Monday said it does t see its sellers or consumers tightening ir purse strings during festive season ahead and expressed confidence in clocking strong sales this year with demand being driven by Tier II and III markets. Speaking to PTI, Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said this year's edition of Big Billion Days (TBBD), which will be held from September 29 to October 4, will see company taking its "expansive selection to about 19,000 pin codes in country".

"We believe e-commerce has potential to boost consumption story and bring about good ecomic activity... We do t see our sellers or consumers tightening ir wallet strings, in fact re is a great deal of festive frenzy that has kicked in," he said when asked if re were signs of a slowdown being seen.

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He added that "a great deal of consumption appetite is coming from Tier II and III markets as well and scale of this year's TBBD will touch everyone". E-commerce companies, which see a large chunk of ir sales during festive season, start preparing for festive sales months in advance ramping up logistics and hiring thousands of temporary workers to ensure timely delivery of products. Rival Amazon had also anunced that it will host its flagship event 'Great Indian Festival' on same dates as of Flipkart. Krishnamurthy said over last few months, company has taken a number of initiatives like adding Hindi langu capability, introducing videos to platform and enhancing last mile-connectivity.

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"We start preparing for TBBD months in advance and aim is to solve challenges for long term. Our focus is on adding new customers and enhancing ir experience while y are on platform. trends we see in TBBD become new rmal during usual business days," he added.

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Krishnamurthy pointed to Flipkart's 'Samarth' initiative that will enable 1.35 lakh artisans and weavers to be a part of festive sales this time. Through its marketplace, Flipkart has connected over a lakh sellers with around 160 million customers. Flipkart has onboarded nearly 27,000 Kirana shops across 700 cities ahead of festive sales to strengn its pan-India supply chain. Also, it will enable access to credit to 55 million people this year through various financial solutions offered in partnership with banks and financial institutions.

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(Except for headline, or changes were made to original PTI story)