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Top1. Introduction
E-commerce, the platform where sellers registered to sell & buyers registered to buy, has been redefining retail industry in India (Joshi, 2017). A report by NASSCOM and Akamai technologies predicted that three out of every four internet users in India came from the rural part of the country (Nasscom Report, 2019). There were certain factors that had contributed towards this growth story. First being the rise in the quality of internet services (Li et al., 2016). Second, increasing number of middle-class populations with disposable income also contributed to this narrative (Li et al., 2016; Bhattacharyya, 2011a). Third, the enhanced user experience on marketplaces combined with the increased mobile penetration gave the required impetus for the growth registered (Li et. al. 2016). Other reasons for the rise of online retail industry in India have been attributed to the better living standards and growth in urban areas beyond metros in the last few decades (Piccoli & Dev, 2012). The B2B e-commerce market in India has been expected to reach US$ 700 billion by the year 2021 whereas the B2C e-commerce market has been expected to reach US$ 102 billion by the year 2021 (CCI & Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu India LLP).
Indian market has been generally viewed as chaotic and challenging (Bhattacharyya, Rangarajan & Vyas, 2012; Bhattacharyya, and Thakre, 2021). Internet had revolutionized the way people have been shopping, customers have reaped benefits of online shopping (Singh & Kushwah, 2019; Bhattacharyya,2011b). Online customer base in India had increased by 1400% from 20 million to 300 million shoppers between the years 2008 to 2019 (Kanchan, Kumar & Gupta, 2019). Indian customers engaged in online shopping because they found it comfortable when compared with conventional shopping (Singh & Kushwah, 2019). The reasons enlisted for this were convenience, high selection (variety), reduction of indirect expense on shopping and attractive prices (Singh & Kushwah, 2019; Nair, and Bhattacharyya, 2019). A major driver of e-retailing has been the offering of deep discounts (Jayakumar, 2015). This combined with the specifics of festive season purchase behavior of Indians had led to launch of sales events on internet-based ecommerce websites (Jayakumar, 2015). Attractive pricing during sales has been carried out in such a way that the conversion of inventory to cash became quick (Berezina & Semrand, 2015). The prime goals that were accomplished by sales events included, increased profits, acquiring new customers, better management of inventory, more brand usage and higher market growth (Berezina & Semrand, 2015). Some other goals which were accomplished by sale events included, filling immediate occupancy needs, increased exposure, reaching to new customer market segments (Berezina & Semrand, 2015). The sales on ecommerce websites had been enhanced by various tools, one such tool had been the usage of social media (Kanchan, Kumar & Gupta, 2019). Social media has been a strong tool to track the online activities of shoppers on social networks to establish a buying pattern, (Kanchan, Kumar & Gupta, 2019; Bhattacharyya, & Neenu,2021). This generated enormous data to be analyzed for obtaining a buying pattern of online customers who were onboarded on social media as well (Clement, 2020; Bhattacharyya, & Neenu,2021). The opportunity was huge for sellers as the Indian Brand Equity Foundation had estimated that a sectorial growth of 51% was registered (Clement, 2020).