Amazon bets on Prime Video to attract shoppers to Prime Day 2019

While end-of-season sales have morphed into perennial sale events on e-commerce websites, the world's largest e-commerce player Amazon is trying to set itself apart by coming out with its Annual Prime Day sale that is targeted at its Prime subscription members only.

But sale fatigue is becoming a reality and Amazon wants to ensure that Prime Day 2019 that starts on July 15 for 48 hours, doesn’t fall into the same pit. So, while most shopping festivals are more about well, shopping, Amazon is using Prime Day to highlight the benefits of its Prime Membership by launching a host of new Amazon Original shows and attracting more users to buy its annual or monthly subscription.

“While we could debate on the impact on other sale events, Prime Day is different. Not just in the way we look at it, but also how customers look at it. We do really think of Prime Day as a celebration and not just another sale event. We ensure we have great entertainment that becomes a part of the event,” Akshay Sahi, Director and Head of Amazon Prime in India, told BusinessLine.

Amazon is betting big on video streaming in India, which is currently dominated by Hotstar, and has at least 30 different competitors. The company is investing heavily in producing its own shows and movies to attract more people to Prime Video, which then becomes a means for people to start shopping on Amazon website.

Sahi said Amazon Prime Video and Prime Music have tremendously increased the overall Prime subscription in India.

“Traditionally, where we saw customers in other markets enjoying shopping on Amazon first and then deciding to join Prime, in India a lot of customers come directly from Prime Video or through our telecom partners, who offer Prime Video subscriptions. Once they have Prime, they first watch some videos and then explore the shopping experience,” Sahi said.

Amazon Prime is a membership programme that gives access to select deals, faster shipping along with access to the Prime Video and Prime Music services. While Amazon doesn’t disclose Prime membership numbers in India, according to industry estimates, Amazon has over 15 million Prime members in India alone, more than 10 per cent of the subscribers globally.

According to Sahi, Prime subscriptions in India have doubled in the past 18 months.

“We have always focused on the celebratory aspect of Prime Day. India has pioneered the concept of new content release on Prime Day. We have continued to double down on that year-on-year. Last year, we had seven new titles releasing over seven days leading to Prime Day, most of them were Hindi and English, with one Tamil title. This year, we are launching 14 titles over 14 days starting July 1 and launching not just Hindi and English titles, but also several regional hits,” Sahi said.

Starting July 1, Prime Members will get access to 14 blockbusters across English, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Telugu and Kannada languages on Amazon Prime Video, in a run-up to Prime Day 2019. The line-up includes Kalank (Hindi), Venom (English), Maharshi (Telugu), Ishq (Malayalam), NGK (Tamil), Parvathamma (Kannada), Mukalava (Punjabi), Bhoot Chaturdashi (Bengali), Chandigarh Amritsar Chandigarh (Punjabi), A Star Is Born (English), and Mogra Phulaala (Marathi), amongst others.

On Amazon Prime Music, Amazon is launching playlists curated by an array of celebrities including Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam, Armaan Malik, Raftaar, Neha Kakkar and The Jonas Brothers, among many more.

Amazon will be launching 1,000 new products during the 48-hour sale, but the key product that the company would expect to see selling more than anything else would be the Prime membership.