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

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.

This festive season, how is Amazon ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers across all pin codes? 

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 this 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. 

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.

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

What were some of the milestones from the 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.

Can you share some key 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.

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.

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