Amazon and Flipkart report strong starts to festive sales in India

MUMBAI: India’s festive shopping season has got off to a flying start, with online shoppers wasting little time turning sale notifications into shopping carts. Amazon reported a 100 per cent year-on-year increase in product orders at the opening of its Great Indian Festival 2026, while Flipkart recorded 6.3 million concurrent users in a single minute during the first hour of its 13th Big Billion Days sale.

Both e-commerce platforms reported strong early demand across smartphones, appliances, fashion and beauty, alongside increased participation from smaller towns and non-metro markets. Premium products, financing options, exchange offers and faster deliveries also featured prominently in their opening-day updates.

Amazon’s sale began on 8 October, with the company saying customers from every pin code in India had placed orders. During the first 12 hours, one in two customers used equated monthly instalments (EMIs), while one in three units purchased came with cashback offers. Prime members saved more than twice as much as they did during the corresponding period last year through exclusive offers.

Saurabh Srivastava, vice president at Amazon India, said early customer engagement, order volumes and delivery speeds had exceeded the company’s expectations. He attributed the activity to a combination of discounts, bank offers, exchange programmes and financing options, which he said were helping customers shop across major cities and smaller towns.

Electronics and home entertainment recorded some of Amazon’s sharpest reported increases, particularly in premium categories. Sales of premium Android smartphones rose 70 per cent year on year, while MacBook Neo sales reached 65 times the level recorded on a regular day. Premium wearables sold at 80 times their usual daily rate.

Home entertainment products saw sales increase 77-fold compared with a regular day. Televisions measuring 55 inches or larger accounted for 65 per cent of all television sales, while high-end home theatre systems sold at 100 times their usual rate during the first 12 hours.

Large appliances also registered a strong start, with sales reaching 50 times their regular-day levels. Premium front-load washing machines weighing nine kilograms or more sold at 80 times their usual rate, while refrigerator sales increased 60-fold.

These figures are comparisons with a regular day’s sales, rather than year-on-year growth rates. The reported multiples therefore indicate the scale of the opening-day surge against the company’s stated baseline.

The demand extended beyond electronics, with fashion and personal care contributing to Amazon’s opening performance. Fashion sales reached seven times the level of a regular day, while footwear was selling at seven pairs per second.

Women’s ethnic wear sold at four times its usual rate, while men’s shirts and T-shirts reached five times their regular daily sales. The figures point to shoppers using festive discounts to refresh wardrobes alongside larger purchases.

Beauty products accounted for one in every four products purchased on Amazon.in during the first 12 hours. Premium skincare and haircare sales reached five times their usual daily levels, while luxury fragrances sold at four times their regular rate.

Flipkart’s Big Billion Days sale also drew a substantial early audience. The company recorded 6.3 million concurrent users in a minute during the first hour of its 13th edition, while more than six times as many Indians shopped on the platform during that hour compared with a regular hour.

The early-access event, which began at midnight on 8 October for eligible members, generated more than 287 million sessions. New customers increased 34 per cent, according to the company.

Smaller markets played a significant role in the opening numbers. Customers from Tier 3 towns and smaller markets accounted for nearly half of visits during the first hour, while non-metro locations contributed approximately 60 per cent of demand.

Category-level growth was also evident. Large appliance sales rose 30 per cent year on year during the opening hour, while tablet sales increased 73 per cent. Beauty purchases climbed 42 per cent, with men’s grooming and self-care products contributing to demand. At peak, Flipkart sold more than 1,600 men’s perfumes per minute.

Smartphones remained a key category, with exchange offers and no-cost EMI helping customers manage purchase costs. Flipkart said one in four customers opted for a product exchange, while one in three chose no-cost EMI.

Flipkart Minutes, the company’s quick-commerce service, recorded 3.5 times as many orders as on regular days during the opening hour. New customers on the service increased 11-fold.

The platform also reported a delivery that put speed in the spotlight: an iPhone 17 was delivered to a customer in New Delhi in 3.4 minutes during early access.

The quick-commerce figures suggest that festive shopping is extending beyond planned purchases of electronics and household goods to a model in which customers expect products to arrive rapidly. However, the reported delivery time represents an individual example and does not establish a typical delivery speed across the service.

Flipkart also reported strong engagement with video-led shopping. More than 1,000 hours of live commerce and over 500,000 short-form videos attracted 12.7 million users to its video and live-shopping experiences.

Voice search was another point of engagement, with around 64 per cent of users of the feature coming from Tier 2 cities and beyond. Among Gen Z customers, beauty purchases rose 48 per cent and watches grew 42 per cent, highlighting demand for personal style and self-care products among younger shoppers.

The activity suggests that shoppers are using a mix of traditional product listings, video demonstrations and voice-led discovery to find products during the sale period.

The early momentum also extended to merchants on Flipkart’s marketplace. The company said 51 per cent of sellers who recorded transactions on the early-access day achieved twice their regular-day growth.

Sellers in Tier 2 cities and beyond, including micro, small and medium enterprises, recorded 2.9-fold growth, according to Flipkart.

The early results from both platforms point to a festive season shaped by a combination of premium purchases, value-conscious financing and growing participation beyond metropolitan markets. Yet the figures represent the opening phase of the sales events, and the longer-term picture will depend on how demand holds up over the remainder of the festive shopping period.

For now, Amazon and Flipkart have both reported a brisk start, with electronics, beauty, fashion and quick commerce competing for shoppers’ attention. The bigger test will be whether the early rush translates into sustained sales as the festive season progresses.