Amazon Says Great Indian Festival 2026 Orders Doubled on Opening Day

Amazon India says the opening day of its Great Indian Festival 2026 was the busiest in the event's history, with customers ordering more than twice as many products as on the first day of last year's sale. The company shared the early numbers on Thursday night, roughly 22 hours after the sale opened to all shoppers at midnight.

The figures are Amazon's own and come without a rupee sales total, so they are best read as a signal of demand mix rather than a measure of overall spending. Still, they offer an early look at what Indian households are buying as the Diwali shopping season gets going.

Premium upgrades lead the cart

The clearest pattern is a tilt towards more expensive products. Amazon said premium Android smartphone sales grew 70% from a year earlier, with the iPhone 16 and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra among the top sellers. Its MacBook Neo laptop sold at 65 times a normal day's rate, and premium wearables at 80 times.

Home entertainment was the standout category, with sales at 77 times a typical day. Televisions of 55 inches and above made up 65% of all TV units sold, while high-end home theatre systems sold 100 times their usual volume in the first 12 hours. Large appliances also surged, with front-load washing machines, refrigerators, dryers and dishwashers all reporting multi-fold jumps.

Fashion, beauty and home health

Fashion sales ran at seven times normal levels, with footwear moving at about seven pairs a second. Beauty accounted for one in every four products bought in the first 12 hours, and premium skin and hair care sold more than 150 units a minute. Air purifiers and air fryers each sold about 30 times their regular-day volume, which suggests health-related home gadgets remain a festive priority.

How shoppers are paying

Financing played a large role. Amazon said one in two customers used EMI, and one in every three units bought came with cashback. Prime members, who got early access on October 7, were said to have saved more than double what they did last year through member-only deals. In over 120 cities covered by its quick-commerce service Amazon Now, Amazon said half of all products were delivered within minutes.

What it means for shoppers

The heavy use of EMI and the focus on big-ticket electronics show how far festive buying in India now depends on credit. Anyone planning a large purchase on instalments should check the actual interest cost and any processing fees, since no-cost EMI offers often build the interest into the price. A quick check with an EMI calculator can show the real monthly outgo before checkout.

Competition heats up from Friday, when Flipkart's Big Billion Days opens to all customers. Retailers and analysts will be watching whether the strong start holds over the coming weeks, especially with fuel prices and a recent RBI rate hike weighing on household budgets.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.