Amazon will launch Prime Day, a one-day global shopping event exclusively for its Prime members in 17 countries, including India, on July 16 as it looks to grow its popular membership service in the world’s fastest growing economy.

The Indian unit of the global e-tailer is coaxing shoppers with two big draws — more than 200 product launches and “ultra-fast” delivery — for the 36 hours that the sale will be on.

What’s New?

Amazon India said Prime members can look forward to big sales and exclusive items, special edition products as well as a raft of online deals.

“For the first time, we will be launching our ultra-fast two-hour delivery for customers in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru,” said Subbu Palaniappan, head, Prime member-engagement, Amazon India.

“Indian customers also get access to products and deals from all 17 countries with access to Amazon Prime Day,” he told CNBC-TV18 in an exclusive interview.

On Monday, Amazon India launched a series of VR experience centres across 11 shopping malls in Chennai, allowing customers to have a 3D view of products on sale on Prime Day. The initiative happens to be Amazon’s first-ever offline experience in India, where it has largely remained an online player.

All Guns Blazing

It does not surprise that Amazon India is going the extra mile this year with Prime Day. Expanding its Indian market reach has become top priority after Walmart, its principal competitor in the US, acquired Flipkart, its main rival in India.

Amazon India is also enticing customers with new perks. The company kickstarted its Prime Day preparations by introducing a brand-new subscription plan that allows customers to sign up for an Amazon Prime membership at Rs 129 a month. Until a couple of weeks ago, membership cost Rs 999 a year.

“We want every Amazon customer to become a Prime member,” said Palaniappan, adding that the company’s decision to partner mobile service operators to provide their post-paid customers with a free one-year subscription was aimed at gaining more members.

A large part of Amazon India’s ambitions to increase the number of members is focused on tier-2 markets.

“Allahabad and Coimbatore are top performing markets for Amazon Prime in the North and South regions, respectively,” said Palaniappan.

Amazon India said one out of three orders is made by a Prime member as of today.

Prime Video: The Big Differentiator

The run-up to Prime Day will see Amazon Prime Video release a new title on each day of the week. With solid crowd favourites like Raazi and Dunkirk all set to begin streaming this week, Amazon has reserved its big ‘original’, Comicstaan, for release on Prime Day.

Comicstaan will mark the fourth Amazon Prime Original series in the last year with regional content.

“We are seeing huge traction in Amazon Prime Originals, and want to double down on that,” said Palaniappan. “We are working with multiple artistes and genres, to generate more regional content for our original series.”

Prime Day 2018: Bigger than before?

Palaniappan said Prime Day will be bigger than ever, pointing to the massive growth in products with quicker delivery windows. “We used to have 1.5 million products with one-or-two-day delivery. Today, that number is 40 million,” he added.

Last year, Amazon India’s membership grew two fold. It is now looking to ratchet up growth further with enhanced market reach, bigger deals and quicker delivery schedules.

First Published:Jul 9, 2018 6:15 PM IST