Responding To Flipkart’s Apple Week, Amazon India To Kickstart Great Indian Sale

On the occasion of new year, as Flipkart concludes its Apple Week today, Amazon India has announced Amazon Great Indian Sale, from January 21 to 24, 2018.

Last year, the company had registered over 200% growth in terms of units sold during the three-day Amazon Great Indian Sale, from January 20-22, 2017.

With Flipkart having raised over $4 Bn in 2017 alone and Snapdeal crumbling to dust post the fallout of merger talks with Flipkart, the war-chest of India’s ecommerce space has been locked between the two first major players — Flipkart and Amazon India. To beat the competition, Amazon has also doubled the authorised capital of its Indian arm to $4.74 Bn.

After the last year-end festive sale charts showed that Flipkart had a clear lead in terms of total sales, this year, Amazon India has brought more customised offers during the ‘Amazon Great Indian Sale’.

For Prime members, Amazon India will offer 12 hours of early access, starting from 12 pm on January 20, 2018. Also, as part of the great Indian sale offers, Amazon India will offer extra 10% cashback to customers using Amazon Pay; 10% cashback on HDFC bank Debit and Credit cards and EMI; ‘no cost EMI’ and attractive exchange schemes on thousands of products across smartphones, TVs, washing machines and more.

The company claims to have over 160 Mn products that will be available during the Amazon Great Indian Sale period.

Commenting on the ‘Amazon Great Indian Sale’, Manish Tiwary, Vice President – Category Management, Amazon India stated, “As the most trusted and visited ecommerce destination, we are geared up to serve our customers with blockbuster deals from India’s biggest brands. The Amazon Great Indian Sale, will have irresistible deals across a wide a range of products in categories including smartphones, consumer electronics, fashion, home & kitchen, large appliances, sports & fitness among others. With big deals, extra cashback, no cost EMI and convenient exchange options, this sale will help customers buy their desired product and still save money.”

Over the last few years, Amazon has marked Black Friday, Prime Day and Cyber Monday as some of the sale offer days globally. While Flipkart celebrates its Big Billion Week during the year-end festive seasons, Paytm too has started celebrating Grand Finale Sale days in December, every year.

However, globally, it is Alibaba that makes the most from its Singles Day celebrations. Last Year, Alibaba’s Singles Day Sales figure was more than 18 times the size of Amazon Prime Day and 2.5 times bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, claimed Alibaba.

Amazon is now counting big on the Indian market, which has registered 100 Mn online purchasers, this year. India’s ecommerce segment is growing at 51% against the Chinese growth at 18%. While Amazon remains one of the two biggest players in India’s ecommerce segment, Alibaba has already made a backdoor entry through Paytm.

Alibaba has now announced plans to raise its R&D annual spending from $2.6 Bn to $3.5Bn. However, with $16.1 Bn spent on R&D for the fiscal year 2017, Amazon is currently world’s number one company in terms of spendings on R&D. By extending the ‘Amazon Grand Indian Sale’ period and offering more customised offers to customers, Amazon India aims to set the score with Flipkart, after incurring a defeat in last year’s festive season sale.