The Amazon Great Indian Festival 2025, the e-commerce giant's flagship annual festival season sale event, has opened with its strongest-ever start, attracting 38 crore customer visits within the first two days of launch.
The company said this was the biggest opening in the event’s history, with more than 70 percent of traffic coming from outside India’s top nine metros.
GST savings drive volumes
This year’s highlight has been the #GSTBachatUtsav storefront, where sellers passed on GST benefits worth crores. The push appears to have paid off: air conditioners and dishwashers both posted double-digit year-on-year growth, inverter batteries doubled sales, and kitchen appliances saw 50 percent more eco-friendly units sold compared to last year.
Groceries and essentials also ticked up, with beverages, oils and cereals growing 15 percent and high-protein foods up 27 percent. Health and wellness showed strong momentum, with whey protein up 28 percent and vitamins and supplements growing 39 percent.
“The Amazon Great Indian Festival 2025 is seeing a record-breaking start. The first 48 hours have been our biggest ever, with an unprecedented 38 crore customer visits and the highest number of Prime members shopping during Prime Early Access,” said Saurabh Srivastava, Vice President, Amazon India. “The #GSTBachatUtsav initiative has been incredibly well-received, with sellers passing on GST benefits worth crores in just 48 hours.”
Premiumisation spreads to smaller towns
Premium categories stole the show. Smartphones priced above Rs 20,000 grew 50 percent year-on-year, while QLED TVs rose 23 percent and Mini-LEDs 27 percent. Laptop sales surged, led by the MacBook Air M4 which sold at 94 times its usual volumes. The Sony Home Theatre System sold at 196 times its regular pace, while premium watches doubled.
Jewellery and accessories followed suit: lab-grown diamonds rose tenfold, precious jewellery and silver coins were up 4.5 times, and Korean beauty products grew more than threefold. Professional beauty and haircare saw 2.5 times growth, premium luggage surged 94 percent, and apparel from top brands doubled and a half. Much of this premium demand came from tier 2 and 3 buyers.
The company also billed this as its fastest festival yet. More than 80 lakh products were delivered to Prime members in just two days, with over 30 lakh items reaching metro buyers the same or next day and more than 50 lakh dispatched to smaller towns within 48 hours.
Small businesses hit fresh milestones
Sellers, particularly SMBs, appear to be the other big winners. Over 16,000 small and medium businesses tripled sales compared to an average day. Two-thirds of participating sellers came from smaller cities such as Ghaziabad, Udupi, Rajkot, Ajmer and Howrah. Amazon said this was the highest-ever number of SMBs crossing the Rs 10 lakh milestone during a festival opening.
“The first 48 hours of the Amazon Great Indian Festival 2025 have been nothing short of transformative for my business,” said Abhishek Dhanwani of Rajasthan Kraft India, an Ajmer-based seller of festive décor. “We witnessed a 7X increase in our daily sales volume and received orders from customers across India, from metros to small towns.”
Rs 260 crore saved through cards and Pay
Customers saved more than Rs 260 crore in the first two days using SBI debit and credit cards. One in four shoppers used Amazon Pay, UPI transactions rose 18 percent compared to last year, and one in five purchases was made on EMI. Of those, four out of five were no-cost EMI plans, largely across mobiles and appliances.
Travel also stood out as a new growth vertical. International flight bookings surged 45 percent year-on-year, with fares ranging from Rs 1,403 on a Delhi–Bhatinda hop to Rs 4.5 lakh for a Mumbai–London ticket.
Bulk orders boom
Amazon Business also reported bumper activity, with new customer sign-ups growing sixfold and bulk orders up 4.4 times over average business days.
“Our partnership with Amazon has had a strong start,” said Gurinder Sukhija, Senior Vice President and Head of Sales and Ownership Management at Ather. “The reach and convenience Amazon offers have helped us connect with an even wider set of customers, and the early sales momentum has been very encouraging.”
Festive momentum continues
The Great Indian Festival, which began on September 22 for Prime members and September 23 for all customers, will run until Diwali.
With record traffic, premium purchases from smaller towns, and crores saved through GST and card offers, Amazon is betting the 2025 season could reshape India’s festive shopping curve.
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