Google Shuts Down the Great Online Shopping Festival in India

Google claims its work to promote e-commerce in India is done and, thus, decides to shut down GOSF.

Google’s Great Online Shopping Festival 2015. (Photo: Google)

Google has brought down the curtains on its three-year-old Great Online Shopping Festival in India.

<p> In 2012, we launched Great Online Shopping Festival as the Cyber Monday of India to encourage more Indians to shop online by offering them the best of deals across portals. Our objective was to bring all the leading e-commerce players on a common platform and boost the online shopping industry by focusing on first-time buyers. We had never done anything like this before in any country.</p>

<p><a href="http://googleindia.blogspot.in/2015/11/bidding-adieu-to-great-online-shopping.html"><b>Google Blog Post</b></a></p>

Google’s online shopping infographic. (Photo: Google India)

Google has shared numbers that reflect the difference between 2012 and 2015 with respect to the online shopping industry. Brands like Flipkart and Snapdeal continue to rise up the ranks thanks to investor funding and sales bonanzas like the Big Billion Days sale.

Job Well Done

As per Google’s admission, they were never looking to eat into other shopping sites’ business, instead they were building up the path for others to bloom. It’s fairly clear that Google feels their job is done in terms of establishing the ground work.

Now, it’s up to the brands to stake their true claim. With this, Google promises to prolong its association with startups in India and ensure that the Internet encourages high-level economic growth in the country.

False Dawn?

It is interesting to see Google taking the call to close down its own shopping festival at a time when Flipkart and Amazon are running their own sales more regularly than the yearly affair that was GOSF. However, most e-commerce brands are yet to break even. With Flipkart expecting profits only in the next 36 months, has Google already achieved its claimed targets?