Amazon India claims top spot in mobile phone sales ahead of festive season

In the run up to the ‘Great Indian Festival’ sale, Amazon India has claimed top spot in mobile phone sales. The firm says that after the festive sale, it would reinforce its position as the top online marketplace to buy mobile phones and accessories.

With more than 2,500 mobile phone and accessory brands and as many as eight new launches lined up, the online marketplace major is planning to expand its offerings. “On Amazon.in, the smartphones category has been growing faster than the industry. It continues to be one of the largest categories. We have the widest selection of mobile phones. We have eight new launches planned for this festive season with marquee brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, and Vivo,” said Noor Patel, director — category management, Amazon India.

Amazon is a key strategic partner for Apple as well as OnePlus. According to the company, both these players have witnessed massive traction in sales coming from tier-II, tier-III and rest of India towns for the last several quarters. The firm said while there is a lot of talk around slowdown, sale of premium phones have rapidly climbed. “Interestingly, over 65 per cent of customers shopping from this category come from beyond the top 10 cities. Premium smartphones (above Rs 25,000) have witnessed close to 33 per cent growth in demand year-on-year. Mass phones (Rs 10,000-25,000) have witnessed close to 40 per cent growth in demand year-on-year,” said Patel.

The company has over the past 12 months, undertaken several initiatives to make smartphones more affordable including no-cost EMI, debit card EMI, a co-branded credit card with ICICI Bank, and exchange offers, among other things.

“On an average, one in every three customers buys a smartphone on no-cost EMI, one in every five customers buys a smartphone on exchange offer. We also see these numbers spike for specific brands, models and periods of the year, where this can go as high as 50 per cent of all customers for both no-cost EMI and exchange as well. We have now made exchange option for smartphones on Amazon.in available in over 450 cities,” said Patel.

The Great Indian Festival will start from midnight on September 29 until 11:59 pm on October 4. Prime members will get early access starting 12 noon on September 28.