More customers shopped on Amazon.in, 79 percent new users from small towns

It added that 'Local Shops on Amazon' sellers clocked a 2x spike and sold over 10 products every minute. "Most loved categories" from Local Shops on Amazon include major appliances, kitchen, home entertainment (TVs), furniture, home, lawn and Garden, and grocery.

The data pertains to trends seen in the month of October during the festive sale.

“We are truly humbled to see how this festive season has brought joy to lakhs of sellers on Amazon.in with many becoming lakhpatis and crorepatis. We also witnessed great participation from over 360,000 MSME buyers on Amazon Business this festive season," Amazon India Vice President Manish Tiwary said.

He added that the company remains committed to helping customers find everything they need on Amazon.in, with a wide variety of selection across categories, top brands, and fast delivery.

Interestingly, more than one lakh customers purchased gardening products like plant pots, gardening tools, soil supplements and more from Amazon for the first time during the sale.

E-commerce platforms, including social commerce and grocery, garnered about $2.7 billion in sales in the first four days of the festive sale (October 2-5) and are on track to achieve the $4.8 billion gross GMV mark, according to consulting firm RedSeer.

RedSeer Consulting has forecast that online platforms are expected to potentially clock over $9 billion gross GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) during the entire festive season this year as against $7.4 billion last year - a growth of 23 percent. Gross GMV refers to the total value of goods sold on the platform prior to subtracting cancellation or return.

Amazon.in said fitness continued to be a customer favourite with cycling being the new trend as electric bikes and Shimano geared bikes were among the most purchased.

"In apparel, we saw a shift from WFH (work from home) essentials to festive clothing like women's kurtis, women's ethnic wear and men's t-shirts...Gold jewellery was a favourite with customers buying Gold coins, pendants, earrings, rings, necklaces and more this festive season," it added.

Also, Alexa - Amazon's digital assistant – answered over 36 million requests during the Amazon Great Indian Festival 2021 to guide customers to product searches, event stores, deals, games, information about products and more on the Amazon Android shopping app.

Amazon said it saw overwhelming response from businesses in tier II and III markets with 55 percent of orders coming from these markets. More than 46 percent increase was witnessed in new MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) who created a business account with Amazon Business during the Great Indian Festival as compared to 2020.

Customers bought over 15,000 products from specially-curated stores like corporate gifting, Work From Home, Back to Work stores designed to meet the various needs of business customers.

E-commerce companies see a large chunk of their annual business coming in during the festive sales and they make significant investments ahead of time to ramp up their capacity and add features to be able to handle the spike in orders, while ensuring a smooth experience for shoppers and sellers.

Companies across the spectrum including Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and Myntra have lined up new launches and offers to woo shoppers during the festive season. Players hold multiple sale events that are timed around Dussehra and Diwali.