Dispelling talks of a slowdown in consumer sentiment, both Amazon and Flipkart reported bigger and better participation especially from non-metros on the first day of their annual festival season sales — Great Indian Festival and The Big Billion Days, respectively.

Amazon.in saw the single largest day of Prime sign-ups, with 66 per cent of Prime members shopping on day one, coming from Tier-2 and -3 towns. Fashion attracted the most new customers, followed by smartphones and 91 per cent were from Tier-2 and -3 towns. Flipkart registered 2x sales growth on the first day compared to last year’s opening day.

“We are humbled that the first 36 hours of our Great Indian Festival has seen record participation from digital Bharat. With record Prime sign-ups, more first-time shoppers from small towns than ever before and tens of thousands of small sellers across India already seeing success, ” said Amit Agarwal, Global Senior Vice President and Country Head, Amazon India.

He said that partnering with India’s largest bank, SBI gave 400 million Indians access to cash back and EMI offers on Amazon.in. While EMIs saw an increase of 100 per cent in customers with 75 per cent coming from Tier- 2 and Tier-3 cities, three out of four customers availed No Cost EMIs and number of customers availing credit increased by 2x over the festive period last year.

“By all indications this is going to be the biggest festival season that India has witnessed,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart. “There is no doubt that e-commerce has not only lifted consumer sentiment but has also driven the industry to set new benchmarks. Affordability and value driven themes clearly are the pulsating chords for India and Bharat.”

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