India, Oct. 28 -- Festive Rush Comes At A Cost

India's ecommerce sellers are heading into the festive rush with a growing cost burden. While Amazon India and Flipkart have cut commissions to attract more sellers, higher cancellation penalties, platform fees and logistics costs are denting their margins just as festive demand peaks. Meanwhile, subdued discretionary spending and rising logistics costs are adding to their woes. But what's really happening?

Flipkart's Penalty Shot: Flipkart's zero-commission push across fashion categories in July has nearly doubled seller onboarding. However, its new penalty structure charges sellers Rs.30 for delayed dispatches and another Rs.60 for cancelled orders, regardless of order value. This flat fe...