Customers voted for value and convenience of Amazon Prime: Amazon India Head, Amit Agarwal

Amazon India announced its first Prime Day sale to be held on Tuesday July 11, 2017. Prime members enjoyed 30 hours of deal shopping starting at 6:00 pm on Monday, July 10 and got exclusive access to over 30 exclusive new launches from the country’s top brands.
Prime Day is an annual event which has expanded to 13 countries this year including the U.S., U.K., Spain, Mexico, Japan, Italy, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium and Austria.
Commenting on Prime Day, SVP and Country Head, Amazon India, Amit Agarwal said, “Prime is our flagship program which brings to members the best of Amazon with unlimited free fast delivery, ad-free video streaming, exclusive selection and deals, and much more. We are humbled by the tremendous response to Prime since its launch less than a year ago. We are thrilled to bring Prime Day to India, curating a special experience for our members with 30 hours of exclusive shopping and new streaming content.”
Amazing Offers On Prime Day
Prime Day offers ranged across various categories, including:
– 40 per cent–70 per cent off apparel and fashion.
– Up to 70 per cent off home and kitchen products.
– Up to 50 per cent off electronics, books and entertainment.
– A minimum of 30 per cent off family essentials.
– Rs 1,000 off Fire TV Stick, which is normally priced at Rs 3,999.
– Some of the larger deals were on TVs and other electronics, with offers of up to Rs 10,000 off.
Branded highlights include the following:
– RedMi 4, budget smartphones from Chinese brand Xiaomi, launched a special sale for Prime members an hour before the event started, and several models were quickly sold out.
– Amazon India offered several deals in collaboration with travel marketplace MakeMytrip, entertainment ticket-booking platform BookMyShow and food delivery service Swiggy.
– Amazon used the event to launch several international brands, such as Gap and The Children’s Place, on Amazon India—these brands were previously only available at physical stores in the country.
– The launch of Being Human’s e-cycle is another key highlight, as the brand is owned by Bollywood star Salman Khan who has a massive fan-following in the country.
How Did It Fare?
Amazon’s first Prime Day celebration in India attracted a record number of customers. Since announcing Prime Day, more customers joined Prime than any full month since launch.
Amazon devices – Kindle and Fire TV Stick – saw their biggest sales day yet on Prime Day and Amazon.in’s mega TV deal on TCL buy one get one free TVs sold out in minutes.
Prime members shopped across categories like Smartphones, Fashion, TVs, Home & Kitchen, Appliances and Pantry especially popular.
FireTVStick, OnePlus 5 Smartphone and Seagate Expansion 1.5TB Portable External Drive emerged as the top 3 best sellers on Prime Day in India were
“With records set for Prime member sign ups, shopping across categories, streaming of Prime Video and Amazon Pay top ups customers clearly voted for the value and convenience of Amazon Prime,” said Agarwal.
He further added, “We will keep working hard to ensure Prime continues to make customers’ life better every day. We are already looking forward to our Prime Day celebration next year.”
Highlights from India’s first Prime Day
– Prime membership grew significantly including smaller towns like Alwar, Muktsar, Gulbarga, and Nalgonda.
– On Prime day, members enjoyed the fast and convenient experience offered by Amazon Pay balance. Top-Ups increased by 17X over normal days. 5X more members paid for their purchases using Amazon Pay Balance. As an indication of the growing trust which Amazon enjoys with its Prime members, the percentage of orders paid using digital payment methods was the highest in the past 12 months exceeding de-monetization.
– Smartphones recorded a 5X jump in sales. Honor received its biggest opening ever for its smartphone Honor 8 Pro which was launched exclusively on Prime Day. Top selling brands were OnePlus, Xiaomi, Honor, Motorola, Samsung and Apple.
– Members made a sound choice with Bose Sound link III which recorded more sales in 30 hours than it has in the past 3 months on Amazon.in.
– Photographers clicked a perfect shot with the Canon 1300D which saw more sales on Amazon.in in the 30 hours of Prime Day than it has in the past 30 days on Amazon.in
– Amazon Fashion saw tremendous growth with exclusive launches from brands like Forever 21, ASICS, Lavie, Gap, and Louis Philippe. Top performing brands were ASICS (9X), Hush Puppies (9X), US Polo Ass. (8X)
– Beauty enthusiasts shopped for 5X more Deodorants than on a normal day in 2017 with Axe being the most sold brand. Skincare saw 2X increase in sales with Nivea being the most sold brand.
– Sports and Fitness saw a 2X jump in sales on Prime Day led by exclusive launches from Salman Khan’s Being Human Foundation’s E-cycles
– Kitchen Appliances saw a 2.5X jump in sales on Prime Day led by exclusive launches from Preeti and Butterfly. “Pigeon Handy Chopper” saw a 10X increase in sales compared to normal days in 2017.
– Washing Machines saw a 8X spike in sales boosted by exclusive launches by IFB, Samsung and also driven by 8X spike in BPL and 7X spike in Bosch washing machine.
– Recliner sales saw more than 18X increase boosted by the exclusive launch from Forzza furniture.
– TVs were a huge draw with the ‘buy one get one’ offer from TCL vanishing in minutes. Sanyo saw a 4X increase in the sale of TVs, thanks to the exclusive launch of the Sanyo Smart Range. Overall on Prime Day, TVs sold 8X more than normal days in 2017.
– In Toys, brands like Barbie & Hot Wheels and Lego saw a 6X and 10X jump in sales respectively.
– Book lovers enjoyed the first time ever exclusive author signed copies by 30 popular authors including Arundhati Roy, Chetan Bhagat, Amish Tripathi and Ruskin Bond.
– Prime Day was especially sweet as Sales of sugar went up 3X on Amazon Pantry!
More than One Day of Shopping
Prime Day is so much more than one day of deal shopping. Partners, brands, sellers and members made Prime Day what it was.
How Did Sellers React?
Prime Day was a great success for sellers. Feedback from sellers includes:
“Prime Day has provided a win-win situation for both buyers and sellers alike. We witnessed a 5X increase in our sales volume compared to a normal day and boosted our revenues tremendously. Our buyers too have gained significantly from the fabulous discounts offered” said Founder, Roots Hair & Beauty Pvt. Ltd., Rohan Naik.
“Thanks to Amazon Prime Day we had the opportunity to get in front of a new audience. The visibility garnered for our products helped double our sales and this is bound to help us in the future as well” said Director, Jaldhara, Manoj Dhaduk.
“We are overwhelmed by the nation-wide response we have received for the OnePlus 5 during the Amazon ‘Prime Day’ sale. Furthermore, Amazon.in played a vital role in the success of the OnePlus 5, which has been clear from the reactions to the phone since its recent launch. We are committed to giving OnePlus fans the best smartphone and the OnePlus 5 has proved to be just that” said General Manager – India, OnePlus, Vikas Agarwal.
Reactions of Delighted Customers
The best measure of Prime Day is delighted members. Here are their experiences:-
“Prime Day tempted me to make the move and become a Prime member and I experienced the benefits right away! I was looking to buy gifts for some of my teachers celebrating special occasions in their lives. I got a great Prime Day deal on bedsheet sets from a very popular brand. Most of my products were delivered the very next day and for free!! I really enjoyed the experience of shopping from the comfort of my office.” said Suchitra, School Principal, Bangalore.
“I had heard about Fire TV Stick when Amazon first launched it in India. On Prime Day, I came across a super cool offer for the Fire TV Stick. It was one of the best offers I have ever seen on Amazon devices. Now with the FireTV Stick I can now enjoy all the movies and shows on Amazon Prime Video on my TV. Entertainment has been totally redefined for me!” said Nishikanth Nandiraju, IT professional, Karimnagar Telangana.