Full sale ahead

Come sale season, major e-commerce websites will be trying all the tricks in the book to engage customers. In the midst of all the festivities in India, websites like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and so on, will be hosting their own shopping festivals with slashed prices and enticing deals. This year, Amazon India has taken their efforts to reach out to a larger customer base making sure they participate in The Great Indian Festival, a few notches higher. Talking about their innovative strategies, Ravi Desai, director, mass branding marketing, Amazon India, says, “Our theme for this year is ‘Now budget won’t hold back India’s celebrations’. To make the shopping experience seamless, we have introduced a range of cashback, discount and exchange offers in collaboration with several banks to provide affordability through easy and convenient finance options. With this as a backdrop, we have created multiple TVCs and digital content on the theme campaign to share the right message with our customers in seven different languages.”

Apart from all the money-saving benefits, the brand has also organised roadshows in various cities.  “Three trucks will cover over 6,000 km across 13 cities in India. The #AmazonFestiveYatra started from New Delhi and will move to Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad before concluding in Bengaluru. En route, the truck will also engage with customers and sellers in Agra, Chennai, Indore, Kolkata, Kochi, Mathura, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam to understand the need of buyers and sellers better and innovate on their behalf. We want to transform the way India buys and sells,” he says. 

The trucks will traverse through the country displaying the wide selection of products that will be on sale during the upcoming edition of the shopping festival. “The trucks will specifically showcase the range from our sellers that include Indian handicrafts, local artisan works, and producst from regional local sellers while sharing teasers of the Great Indian Festival and all that customers can look forward to. We want to enable e-commerce for Indian customers and sellers across the country and given the excitement around this event, we thought this was a great occasion to build on-ground engagement with these customers and sellers while showcasing the products from our brands like Karigars, Saheli entrepreneurs and more,” he says, adding, “Interestingly, our small sellers’ base has been increasing rapidly. We are humbled that 500,000 diverse businesses that include brands, SMBs, artisans, weavers, tech startups, etc from across India have chosen our platform as their marketplace and are providing customers with irresistible deals on millions of ‘Best of India’ products across categories. The specially curated house-on-wheels too include selection from Amazon.in’s Karigar and Saheli programmes.”

Over 50 per cent of their sellers are based in tier II and towns like Aligarh, Idukki in Kerala, Anugul in Orissa and Rajpipla in Gujarat and so on. “Currently, over 50,000 weavers and artisans across 15 states and 48 clusters in India are benefitting through our Karigar (previously called Kalahaat) programme to reach a diverse customer base across the country,” he informs. 

Top five things to watch out for during The Great Indian Festival

• Free installation of large appliances and TVs at the time of delivery in top 20 cities and within 48 hours in all other cities across the country.
• Hassle-free replacement for all damaged products.
• Open-box delivery feature for large appliances and TVs available in top 26 cities. The delivery personnel will open the box in front of the customer at the time of delivery to ensure that they receive exactly what they ordered. 
• Next day scheduled delivery available in top 25 cities.
• Amazon Pantry will provide an additional 15 per cent cashback. There is a special treat for Prime members, who can buy select grocery items at just Re 1 on all days of the sale.