This year, Amazon ran its annual shopping event over two days, July 15 and 16. These are the highlights of what we saw in the India market. India’s Third Prime Day Event Amazon kicked off its third Prime Day in India at midnight local time on July 15, lasting through July 16. Headline deals included 60% off TVs and appliances, exchange offers on mobile phones, 50% off Amazon’s own Echo and Kindle devices, discounts on daily essentials (such as beauty products, grooming devices, baby products, food and beverages) and cash-back offers on flights, bill payments and more. [caption id="attachment_92971" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Amazon India Prime Day offers shortly after launch
Source: Amazon India[/caption]

This year, Amazon put a how-to guide on the home page to help first-time users become Prime members, navigate deals and discover new product launches. The company provided additional savings to shoppers who installed Amazon Assistant for desktop notifications, applied for an ICICI Bank credit card or shopped merchant sites with the retailer’s payment platform Amazon Pay. First-time Amazon app users also stood a chance to win prizes worth INR 500,000 ($7,300).

  [caption id="attachment_92972" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Amazon India “How to Shop Prime Day” guide
Source: Amazon India[/caption]

Electronics, Electronics and More Electronics: Key Deals

The most prominent deals across Amazon India were on electronics and home appliances. Amazon launched more than 1,000 new products this Prime Day, including the OnePlus 7 128gb phone, Samsung M40 phone and AmazonBasics washing machines.

[caption id="attachment_92973" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Product launches on Prime Day on Amazon India
Source: Amazon India[/caption]

Amazon featured several offers prominently on the home page, many focused on electronics:

• Deals with exchange: Selected mobile phones, washing machines, TVs, fridges and laptops carried discounts for customers willing to trade in older products. For example, a Samsung Galaxy M20 phone priced at INR 9,990 ($146) was available for INR 8,991 ($131) off with exchange.
• Electronics deals: Amazon offered more than 5,000 discounts in this category, with up to INR 35,000 ($511) off laptops, up to 50% off smartwatches, up to 30% off cameras and up to 60% off headphones.
• Blockbusters: Amazon highlighted heavy discounts across several categories, such as 30–50% off gaming consoles, 22% off Sony headphones with Alexa built in and 30% off Bose speakers.

Other major deals came in daily essentials such as personal care and household products at up to 70% off as well as home furniture at up to 60% off.

[caption id="attachment_92974" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Blockbuster deals on Prime Day on Amazon India
Source: Amazon India[/caption] Indian Consumers’ Reactions on Social Media Some shoppers took to social media to express their disappointment, comparing deals with competitor site Flipkart and finding many were cheaper there. [caption id="attachment_92975" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Twitter user comparing prices of a product on Amazon and Flipkart
Source: twitter.com/4liebrown and twitter.com/TheSambre[/caption] However, some Twitter users expressed excitement for deals on Prime Day and support for Amazon over Flipkart. [caption id="attachment_92976" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Twitter user comparing prices of a product on Amazon and Flipkart
Source: twitter.com/luckyankit and twitter.com/Gp_Lambda[/caption] Our initial thoughts are that Prime Day did not meet some Indian shoppers’ expectations, which had been built up by Amazon’s marketing campaign.