It’s that time of the year again when ecommerce majors are fighting it out with massive sales scampering to capture more customers, garner more sales and in the process, more market share.
Both Amazon and Flipkart are launching their respective sales on Monday. Amazon is launching its Prime Day sale at noon, which will end on July 17 at midnight while Flipkart’s big shopping days sale begins at 4pm and goes on for a day longer until July 19. For Walmart-owned Flipkart, this is its next big chance to take on Amazon.
Both sales are offering massive discounts across categories, along with lightening deals and other features such as fast delivery.
Amazon Prime Day Sale
Amazon has been pushing its Prime subscription in India aggressively over the past year. While it raised its price to Rs 999 a year, it is also pushing it for free through various telecom players and at reduced prices to capture more subscribers. With over 100 million members already subscribed to the service globally, it expects this number to bolster over the course of the Prime Day sale.
A large part of Amazon India’s ambitions to increase the number of members is focused on tier-2 markets.
“We were humbled by the fantastic response to our first Prime Day last year and are delighted to bring it back for Prime members in India. Prime members in India can enjoy over 200 exclusive product launches, thousands of deals at the lowest prices of the year and blockbuster entertainment launches on Prime Video and Amazon Prime Music,” said, Amit Agarwal, SVP and Country Manager, Amazon India said.
How to get Amazon Prime Subscription
Unlike Flipkart, Amazon’s 36-hour sale is only for Prime customers. Prime is Amazon’s annual subscription service priced at Rs 999 per year. And if you don’t want to shell out so much, you can also get it for a month for Rs 129.
Telecom companies such as Airtel and Vodafone too are offering the Prime membership for free when you opt for some of their plans.
What to expect?
Prime Day sale gives subscribers access to over 200 exclusive new Prime Day launches. They will be the first to get access to exclusive new product launches such as OnePlus 6 Red, NesPlus breakfast cereals from Nestlé, gaming laptops from HP and Acer, and many others.
The popular one-rupee deals are also on offer this year on TCL 55 inches 4K Smart TV, TCL 32 inches TV and select groceries and daily essentials.
Amazon Brands will see new launches across men’s apparel, whole spices and kitchen appliance categories.
There are thousands of deals on offer at what the company claims are the lowest prices of the year across Mobiles, TVs, Laptops, Appliances, Fashion, Everyday Essentials and more
Prime Day will also feature the lowest prices on Amazon Echo family of devices, Fire TV Stick, All New Kindle, Kindle Oasis and Kindle Paperwhite.
For the first time, Prime members in India will also have access to hundreds of top international Prime Day deals from across 17 countries.
Amazon is also offering 2-hour delivery of consumer electronics, Amazon Devices, everyday essentials and more on the Prime Now app for Prime members in Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad.
What’s new?
One big differentiator this year from Amazon is its VR experience. During the sale, customers will be able to experience new products launching on Prime Day in Virtual Reality (VR) before buying.
For example, customers can see a dress modelled in 3-dimension, open a microwave placed on the kitchen countertop to look inside, and more. Customers can also catch a glimpse of Prime Video’s blockbuster content launching for Prime Day. This VR experience is open to all customers with preferential access to Prime members at select malls in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru.
Flipkart Big Shopping Days sale
For Walmart-owned Flipkart, this is one of the first massive sales it is hosting since the Walmart deal. The 80-hour sale will be giving offers across home decor, furnishing, electronics, home appliances, fashion brands and other categories.
Flipkart is offering ‘Blockbuster deals’ and ‘Price Cash’ deals every eight hours along with shorter sales called rush hour sales. It also has massive discounts of up to 70% and categories such as under Rs 199, under Rs 399.
The biggest draw, however, will be sales on smartphones, which can be bought at incredibly low prices. Some of the notable offers are the 128 GB version of the Pixel 2, which can be bought for Rs 42,999, which is Rs 10,000 less than the usual price. Other smartphones such as the Honor 10, Asus Zenfone 5Z, Zenfone Max Pro, Samsung Galaxy On NXT, Galaxy J3 Pro, On Max, Redmi 5A and Note 5 Pro are available with big discounts. Customers can also purchase the smartphone for a no-cost EMI plan through Bajaj Finserv.
There are other deals on offer such as 30-80% off on Laptops, Cameras, Tablets, Powerbanks, Trimmers, up to 70% Off on TVs & Home Appliances from top brands like Samsung, Vu, Haier and others, 50-80% Off on Fashion Brands with discounts on over 20 lakh styles and 100+ new launches and 40-80% Off on Home Decor, Furnishing, Furniture & household items from Bombay Dyeing, Pigeon, Prestige and more.
There is a Flash Fashion Hours sale for fashion and lifestyle brands at 4 pm, 8 am and at midnight.
There are also chances to win rewards worth lakhs through various contests that will run on the platform from July 12-19.