E-commerce firm Amazon India on Saturday said it has recorded a two-fold jump in its customer base from tier 2 and tier 3 cities in the first 36 hours of its festive season sale.
Tier 2 and 3 cities accounted for 75 percent of the e-commerce major’s total customer base during its ‘Great Indian Festival’ sale, an Amazon India spokesperson told PTI.
“75 percent of customers came from tier 2 and 3 cities. We saw 2x more customers from tier 2 and 3 cities compared to last year,” the spokesperson said.
The company’s festive season sale began on September 23 and will end before Diwali next month. The company gave 24 hours of early access to Prime members.
Amazon claims to have recorded the sale of 10 lakh unique products offered by small and medium enterprises and startups from its platform in the first 36 hours of its festive season sale.
The company said Prime membership signups grew 1.9 times over last year, and 68% of total new signups were from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Amazon charges Prime users a fee for special services , but registrations include both paying and non-paying users.
“It is heartening to witness small and medium enterprises, startups, artisans and women entrepreneurs offering a wide selection of products to our customers across India,” said Manish Tiwary, Vice President and Country Head, India Consumer Business, Amazon.
According to Amazon, customers showed preference for TV brands such as Samsung, OnePlus, Mi, LG and Sony.
The company’s Amazon Business segment saw 50% growth in customers during the current sale.
“Amazon Business experienced around 50% growth in customers, over 100% increase in orders and over 200% increase in sales over last year, along with double the growth of customers placing bulk orders for their business or corporate gifting needs. The number of sellers who received at least one trade order grew 23 percent over last year,” the statement said.
Amazon India has extended its same-day delivery service to over 50 major cities and towns in India for Prime members.
“Same day delivery within hours is available in 2.5 times more PINs compared to last year, increasing from 14 cities to 50 cities and towns this year, including Surat, Mysuru, Mangalore, Bhopal, Nashik, Nellore , Anantapur, Warangal, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Patna among others,” the company said.
