It’s that time of the year again as Amazon returns with its annual Prime Day, which involves two days of great deals, savings, blockbuster entertainment, new launches, and much more. Before the big event kicks off on July 23 (runs through July 24), here’s what Akshay Sahi, director, Prime and Delivery Experience, Amazon India, told us.
What are you doing differently this Prime Day?
To celebrate all Prime members, Amazon’s annual Prime Day event will be organised in India on July 23 and 24. The two days of great deals, savings, blockbuster entertainment, new launches and much more will help Prime members sit back, relax and enjoy all the blockbuster entertainment and shop to their heart’s content. This year, Prime Day will offer best deals and savings across categories.
New launches: Over 30,000 new product launches from over 400 top Indian and global brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, Intel, boAt and so on, and 2,000 new product launches from over 120 small and medium businesses (SMBs) like XECH, Cos-IQ, Himalayan Origins, SpaceinCart, Mirakii, Karagiri, Nirvi Handicrafts across categories including electronics, fashion and grooming, jewellery, handmade products, and many more
Unique offers: Discover the joys of shopping for unique offers and deals from hundreds of young brands from the Indian start-ups under Amazon Launchpad, Amazon Karigar, Amazon Saheli and Local Shops on Amazon
Unmatched deals: Thousands of deals across TVs, laptops, smartphones, fashion and beauty, everyday essentials, and more.
Power of smart tech: Get the year’s best deals on Amazon Echo, Fire TV and Kindles devices this Prime Day. Get started on your smart home with up to 55 per cent off on latest smart speakers, smart displays, and Fire TV products
Best of entertainment: Prime Video announces an entertainment bonanza for Prime members, with an exciting line-up of highly anticipated Amazon Original series and popular movies across multiple languages this Prime Day. Along with blockbuster movies released recently such as Runway 34, Sarkaru Vaari Paata, and Samrat Prithviraj, Prime members will be able to catch the latest Amazon Original action-thriller series starring Chris Pratt — The Terminal List, a new season of fan-favourite Comicstaan, and the second Indian adaptation of the beloved global series Modern Love Hyderabad. Also, as a special Prime Day offer, many of our partners will be offering up to 50 per cent discount on add-on subscriptions through Prime Video Channels this Prime Day
After two years of staying at home, people are going out to buy things. Do you think the demand for Amazon Prime will continue to grow in India?
As ‘stay at home’ and ‘work from home’ became the new normal, we saw the critical role ecommerce has played to serve people in the safety of their homes. In the face of this disruption, it was heartening to see how lakhs of sellers, delivery and logistics players and others step up to serve and support customers. The pandemic has accelerated technology adoption which has brought a structural shift in online shopping behavior and we are seeing more and more customers coming online for their shopping needs.
We are delighted to say that we have had a fantastic response to Prime in India, and we have seen new members signing up as we continue to add benefits. Prime membership has continued to be a “bestseller” during all key sale events, and we now see a lot of members coming from smaller towns. For example, during the Amazon Great Indian Festival 2021 which is our month-long festive celebrations, Prime membership continued to be a customer favourite across India, with two out of three new Prime sign-ups coming from Tier-2/3 cities and customers shopping in eight Indian languages. Our annual shopping event Prime Day continues to offer great deals, savings, blockbuster entertainment, new launches from top brands and small and medium businesses to our customers during such difficult times.
Prime Youth. How is it fundamentally different from the usual Amazon Prime membership? Why the categorisation?
We continuously look to add to Prime’s basket of benefits. Amazon Prime recently launched Prime Youth Offer under which 18-24 year old customers can avail a 50 per cent off on their prime membership. What’s more is that young members who joined Prime with the Youth Offer can refer someone from the Prime Referrals page on the Amazon App by simply choosing them from their phone contact list or using email ID. When the friend being referred joins Prime and verifies his/her age, the referrer will get a 15-day free Prime membership extension for each referral and the friend being referred gets an additional 10 per cent cashback (apart from the 50 per cent cashback availed through Youth Offer) on the price of the plan they have purchased, under our ‘Prime Referral Program’.
Akshay Sahi, director, Prime and Delivery Experience, Amazon India