Record-Breaking Start: The Amazon Great Indian Festival 2024 witnessed a record 11 crore customer visits in the first 48 hours, with 80% coming from Tier-2 and smaller towns

Saurabh Srivastava, Vice President - Categories, Amazon India, spoke about The Amazon Great Indian Festival 2024.

1 Amazon India’s biggest shopping event is now live. Can you share some key insights on customer response so far?

The first 48 hours of the event have been nothing short of phenomenal, with over 11 crore visits recorded on the platform. We’ve seen an overwhelming response from customers across the country, especially from Tier 2 and 3 cities, which account for over 65% of our total sales during this period. In these early stages, categories like smartphones, home appliances, fashion, and beauty products have shown impressive demand.

Over 200,000 customers purchased a mobile phone for the first time, reflecting growing confidence in investing in quality technology. Premium products are in high demand, with premium smartphones seeing a 30% YoY growth and high-end gaming laptops experiencing a staggering 35X increase in sales. Additionally, large appliances recorded a 1.7X spike from customers utilizing exchange offers, while premium watches and jewelry witnessed over a 2X spike YoY.

We are also noticing significant traction in grocery, everyday essentials, and home décor, reflecting the wide variety of interests among our customers, with grocery sales increasing by 25%. Additionally, we are observing a remarkable shift towards digital payments, with Amazon Pay seeing increased adoption as customers choose seamless, rewarding transactions. Amazon Pay UPI usage grew 16% YoY, marking the highest usage ever recorded, reflective of the increased comfort Indians have with digital payments today.

In addition, customers are engaging more with newer features like 'Prime Early Access,' which has attracted over 1 million Prime members who accessed exclusive deals. The excitement is palpable, and we’re looking forward to seeing how the momentum continues in the coming days.

2. How is Amazon ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers across all pin codes this festive season? 

Customers are enthusiastic for festive shopping upswing this year, revealed a study conducted by Ipsos Research Private Limited, commissioned by Amazon India. 89% respondents expressed their excitement for the upcoming festivities with 71% indicating their intent to shop online. Amazon.in emerged as a preferred online shopping destination, with over 73% of respondents trusting Amazon for their festive needs. 

To ensure a seamless shopping experience across all pin codes, we have added three new fulfillment centres to our existing pan-India operations network that consists of over 43M cu feet of storage space, sortation centers in 19 states, about 2,000 delivery stations, Amazon Air, our partnerships with Indian Railways, India Post, and much more. We’ve also created more than 110,000 seasonal job opportunities across our operations network to meet the increased customer demand during the upcoming festive season. These opportunities include direct and indirect jobs across India in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Chennai, among others. 

3. How is Amazon leveraging AI/ML to enhance customer and seller experience?

Innovation is at the core of our strategy. This year, we’ve introduced AI-Generated Review Highlights, which summarize customer reviews to help users make faster, informed decisions. We’ve also launched Rufus, a conversational shopping assistant powered by Generative AI. Currently in beta, Rufus enables natural language interactions within the Amazon app, making it easy to ask product-related questions, get recommendations, or compare products. Whether typing or speaking, customers can now enjoy a more intuitive shopping experience, further enhanced by AI-powered tools like personalized recommendations for seamless shopping assistance.

4. Can you tell us about Amazon's efforts to empower small and medium businesses in India?

At Amazon, we are invested in supporting businesses of all sizes, from small and medium businesses to emerging entrepreneurs to established brands. With 1.6 million seller partners, Amazon offers various initiatives to help SMBs grow through e-commerce. Our recent efforts include reducing selling fees across multiple categories on Amazon.in, allowing sellers to expand their product offerings and prepare for the upcoming festive season. With the changes, sellers on Amazon India are benefitting from a drop in selling fees ranging from 3% to 12% across various product categories. 

The Amazon Great Indian Festival 2024 has kicked off with a phenomenal start for sellers, showcasing the incredible growth of SMBs across the country. This momentum continued to build, with an all-time high number of sellers recording sales within the first 48 hours of the event, surpassing previous editions. Notably, over 65% of these sellers hailed from Tier 2, Tier 3 cities, and beyond, highlighting the growing reach of e-commerce in smaller towns and cities. SMBs, including women entrepreneurs, weavers, and artisans, sold over 1,500 units every minute during the first 48 hours. More than 8,000 SMBs achieved their highest-ever single-day sales, and over 20,000 SMBs doubled their sales compared to an average day during the first two days of the event. Additionally, over 8,000 sellers surpassed INR 1 lakh in sales within the first two days, marking a significant milestone in their growth journey. These figures underscore our efforts to support and empower SMBs across India, driving growth and success through our various programs, including Karigar, Saheli, Launchpad, and Local Shops.

5. The festive season is important for the Indian diaspora overseas. How is Amazon enabling Indian sellers to reach this global audience and cater to their festive needs?

During the festive season, Amazon actively supports Indian sellers to reach global customers. With Amazon Global Selling, we aim to help thousands of Indian businesses reach over $13 billion in total e-commerce exports by 2024. Since its inception, more than 150,000 exporters have participated in the initiative, cumulatively selling more than 40 crore 'Made in India' items on over 18 Amazon international platforms. The program has remarkable adoption with sellers participating from over 200 cities in India. During the festive season, we work closely with Indian exporters to pinpoint international holiday shopping trends, simplify shipping processes, and promote their products effectively. There is a strong demand for traditional Indian clothing, trendy jewellery, scented incense, decorative oil lamps, and other celebration-related products among the Indian community living abroad. 

6. Can you share some milestones from festive period last year and do you see yourself surpassing those numbers this year?

In 2023, we witnessed a record of more than 1.1 billion visits with 4 million+ new customers shopping on Amazon India for the first time. The biggest ever in history! Further, 80% of our customers who shopped came from tier 2-3 cities reiterating our strong capabilities of delivering across all serviceable pin codes in India. We also saw the highest-ever Prime sign-ups in a single day this season along with the highest seller participation along with 5,000 new launches from top brands. Almost half of all orders from Prime members were delivered within 48 hours of making a transaction during Amazon Great Indian Festival 2023. This year, based on the incredible momentum we’ve seen in the first 48 hours, we expect to surpass last year’s performance. We are confident that this will be the biggest Amazon Great Indian Festival ever.

7. What are some of the customer trends you are seeing this year and how are you gearing up for the same?

We are observing several key trends shaping the online shopping landscape this year. One major trend is the influence of Gen Z shoppers. They’re not just purchasing products—they’re setting trends, particularly around sustainability, personalization, and brands that align with their values. In response, we’re rethinking how we present products and brands to cater to this influential group. Another notable trend is premiumization. Categories like jewellery, premium smartwatches, and apparel are seeing unprecedented demand, especially during festivals and wedding seasons.

To meet these demands, we’ve launched new initiatives, including varied Amazon Prime membership tiers to cater to different customer needs. We’ve also increased our focus on faster delivery. Today, we offer same-day delivery of close to 1M+ products and 1-day delivery across 4M+ products, free with no minimum cart value.  Additionally, we’ve rolled out Creator University and Creator Connect, providing a platform for Gen Z and Alpha creators to engage, learn, and thrive in the evolving creator economy.

"This article is not written by MC Editorial"