Cart is full: Amazon, Walmart find success in rural India in sales season

Flipkart said in a note that it recorded almost 50 per cemt growth in new customers compared with last year's sale days

Amazon.com Inc. and rival Walmart Inc. reported record revenue for their six-day India sales festivals as e-commerce catches on with buyers and sellers in smaller Indian towns, moving beyond the country’s urban, English-speaking population.

The American competitors have been dueling in India since Walmart cut a $16 billion deal for control of local pioneer Flipkart Online Services Pvt last year. Their latest sales — which Amazon calls the Great Indian Festival and Flipkart calls Big Billion Days — are a high-stakes battle that ran on the same days and concluded over the weekend.

Both focused on expanding their online commerce