Cashbacks and discounts: Amazon's Great Indian Sale to kick off from May 11

E-commerce giant has partnered with Citibank to offer 10% cashback on website ; 15% on app

Amazon India is taking yet another swing at de-throning rival Flipkart from its top position in India's e-commerce market with its four-day-long 'Great Indian Sale', which will kick off next week on May 11.

The US online retailer lost out to Flipkart by a sizeable margin in the Diwali sale last October, and continues to lag behind its local rival by around 25 per cent in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV).

Amazon says that the sale will offer consumers great deals on popular brands, fast deliveries and easy returns on the 100 million odd products on sale in India. Moreover, the company is looking to cash in on its prime subscriber base with access to exclusive deals.

Flipkart kicked off its 'Summer Shopping Days Sale' on May 2 ahead of its rivals, executing a tried and tested plan of snapping up consumers before the competition kicks in. This time around though, Amazon has a larger base of prime customers and has been investing heavily in its India business over the past few months.

Last month Amazon announced that it had opened seven new fulfilment centres to process orders for large appliances and furniture. On Tuesday, the company said that it would open seven more fulfilment centres across the country, but those will not come up in time for Amazon's upcoming sale.

Further, Amazon isn't just leaving it up to discounts to win customers, but has partnered with Citibank to offer 10 per cent cashback on its website and 15 per cent on its app. Further, customers shopping on Amazon's app will get a Rs 1,000 discount on domestic hotels booked through Yatra.com for a purchase of above Rs 500 on its platform.

While Amazon executes sales and other promotions where it burns money on discounting products to win customers, it is simultaneously executing a long-term strategy for becoming India's largest e-commerce player. Experts say that Amazon has made more meaningful investments, while also doing a much better job on the brand building bit.