Brands
Amazon Prime Day is coming to India in July for its tenth edition
Prime members can expect deals, new launches, and entertainment in what promises to be the biggest Prime Day yet
BENGALURU: Amazon is bringing Prime Day back to India this July, and it is pulling out all the stops for the tenth edition of its annual shopping extravaganza. Prime members across the country can look forward to deals on electronics, kitchen, beauty, fashion, fresh groceries, and everyday essentials, alongside new product launches and blockbuster entertainment.
The announcement, made on May 1st, 2026, places India in the July cohort alongside Australia, Brazil, and Japan. Prime Day will arrive earlier, in June, for members in a wider swathe of markets including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, among others.
A decade of Prime Day in India
This year marks the tenth Prime Day in India, a milestone that Amazon is using to underscore how much the event has grown. In 2025, the company delivered more than 55 crore products to Prime members the same or next day, a 40 per cent year-on-year increase and a signal of just how aggressively Amazon has built out its logistics infrastructure across the country. Prime members in India also saved an average of more than twice the cost of an annual Prime membership in 2025, a figure Amazon is keen to trumpet as it nudges more customers toward signing up ahead of July.
What Prime gets you
For those already in the fold, the benefits are considerable. Members get delivery within minutes on Amazon Now in select cities, free unlimited same-day delivery on 10 lakh products, next-day delivery across 40 lakh products, and four-hour delivery on over 40,000 top-selling products. On Amazon Now specifically, Prime members get free delivery on orders above Rs 99 and an additional cashback of Rs 200 on orders above Rs 1,399. They also earn unlimited 5 per cent cashback on all purchases on Amazon.in using the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card, on top of access to Prime Video, Amazon Music, and exclusive early access to Prime Day deals.
Three tiers, three price points
For those not yet subscribed, Amazon is offering three entry points. A full annual Prime membership, covering shopping and entertainment benefits including Prime Video and Amazon Music, costs Rs 1,499. Prime Lite, at Rs 799, offers full shopping benefits with limited Prime Video access. Prime Shopping Edition, at Rs 399, is aimed squarely at customers who want the delivery perks without the digital entertainment layer. All three can be accessed at amazon.in/prime.
July cannot come fast enough. For Prime members, the deals are coming. For everyone else, the clock is ticking.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
