Amazon Bets On Seasonal Sale To Recover Ecommerce Business In India

In a bid to recover its lost business, ecommerce giant Amazon has decided to make its Prime Day Sales even bigger this year with better offers, technology intervention and more. The two-day sale will begin on August 6 and will provide 48-hour delivery, exclusive discounts, early deals, streaming music, video, and other benefits to Prime customers. 

Amit Agarwal, senior vice president and country manager of Amazon India, said, “We are super excited that members can start discovering joy early ahead of Prime Day and earn cashback every time they shop from tens of thousands of small businesses including local stores, karigars, and saheli entrepreneurs while supporting their business in these challenging times.”

The company had set the date for August 6 to 8 close to the festivals like Rakshabandhan, Janmashtami and Independence Day which may spur up the consumption even further. Akshay Sahi, head of Amazon Prime India, told Economic Times that customers and sellers want to shop around this time.

Amazon, in its press statement, has also noted there will be 300 new product launches from top brands like Samsung, Intel, Fabindia, Dabur, Voltas, Godrej, Jabra, Titan, Max Fashion, JBL, Whirlpool, Philips, Bajaj, Usha, Decathlon, Hero Cycles, Eureka Forbes, Sleepwell, L’Oréal Paris, OnePlus, IFB, Microsoft Xbox, Adidas, Xiaomi, Boat, Borosil, Milton and more. 

Besides this, users can also leverage their Alexa devices to know the updates through voice commands. Besides this, users can also discover the stories of  Indian small businesses by simply saying, “Alexa, tell me an Amazon seller story”.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s rival Flipkart had organised its first five-day big sale event in June this year. The company has teamed up with HDFC Bank to offer a 10% instant discount to the bank’s credit and debit cardholders. The online marketplace is also offering no-cost EMI options and bundled exchange offers with select products.

Will These Sales Help Ecommerce Buck Up Like Last Year?

The ecommerce companies have always been enthusiastic about discounts as it helps them drive sales during peak seasons. One of the biggest sales of the year is the festive season sale held between Diwali and New Year. It is no less than the Indian version of ‘Black Friday’ sales, and makes up 60% of the sales, compared to their annual sales. 

Last year, Ecommerce giants Flipkart and Amazon recorded a combined gross merchandise value of $3 Bn or INR 19K Cr in India during their respective festive season sales, despite the economic slowdown. Both these platforms made up for almost 90% of the overall ecommerce sales during the gifting season.

According to the RedSeer Consulting report, Flipkart reportedly stood at INR 1.9K versus INR 1.4K on Amazon. Flipkart led with a 64% share of the combined gross sales, while Amazon continued to show a higher net promoter score (NPS) which gauges customer loyalty.

In terms of gross units shipped for Flipkart was 56% while Amazon’s was 44%. But customer cancellations were lower on Amazon, while Flipkart led in terms of reach and brand recall in Tier 2.  Flipkart left the US-based Amazon way behind with its 70% market share. At the same time, Flipkart and its subsidiaries Myntra and Jabong controlled 80% of the entire online market for fashion in the five-day sale.

US-based market research company Forrester Research noted the Indian ecommerce segment is expected to grow by 6%, amounting to $35.5 Bn this year. However, compared to last year, the firm would also seek a hike of $2 Bn due to the pandemic. It noted the groceries segment will drive the sales of ecommerce additional $1.3 Bn, leading to $3 Bn overall sales.