By the time most of India woke up on Thursday morning, Amazon India’s biggest shopping event of the year had already rewritten its own records. The Great Indian Festival 2026, which opened for all customers at midnight on October 8, logged the strongest opening day in the event’s history, with the number of products ordered more than doubling from a year ago.
The company said the sale attracted over 440 million visits in its early phase, and app downloads hit a single-day record at five times the level of a regular business day. Saurabh Srivastava, vice president at Amazon India, credited the surge to Prime member savings, instant bank discounts, exchange offers, no-cost EMI and pay-later options that made premium products more affordable this festive season.
A record nobody expected this early
By the opening day, customers from every pin code in the country had placed an order, across smartphones, consumer electronics, fashion, beauty, home and kitchen, and everyday essentials.
The numbers tell the story. One out of every two customers shopped using EMI, and one in every three units purchased came with a cashback. Prime members saved more than twice as much as they did in the same period last year through Prime-only offers available in the first twelve hours alone. Sellers, too, had a record start: units ordered in the first 24 hours more than doubled from last year, and the number of sellers crossing Rs 1 crore in sales during day one rose by over 80 per cent.
Small-town India is driving the festive boom
Perhaps the most striking detail in Amazon’s numbers is where the traffic came from. More than 72 per cent of visits originated outside India’s top nine metropolitan cities, and the number of first-time shoppers rose nearly 100 per cent. The festival season, it seems, is no longer a metro story.
This shift has been building for years as better logistics, pay-later options and no-cost EMI brought premium products within reach of households in smaller towns. What changed this year is the scale: from metros to the smallest towns, shoppers are treating the festive sale as the default time to buy the big-ticket items they had been putting off.
Phones, big TVs and the EMI economy
Demand skewed sharply toward premium products. Apple iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, OnePlus Nord 6, Xiaomi 17 and iQOO 15R were among the most popular smartphone picks, as buyers moved to flagship cameras, faster chips and bigger displays. Sales of premium Android smartphones grew 70 per cent year on year, while MacBook Neo sales touched 65 times a regular day’s level and premium wearables sold at 80 times their normal daily pace.
The big screen ruled living rooms as well. Televisions measuring 55 inches and above made up 65 per cent of all TVs sold, home entertainment sales ran at 77 times a regular day, and large appliances sold at 50 times their normal daily pace. Fashion sales reached seven times a regular day’s level, with footwear alone selling at a rate of seven pairs a second.
Beauty emerged as a surprise heavyweight: one in every four products purchased during the first twelve hours was a beauty item, and premium skincare and haircare products sold at five times their usual daily rate.
What shoppers can still grab
The sale continues with the season’s lowest prices of the year on lakhs of products. Some of the headline levers shoppers are using:
- Instant bank discounts: 10 per cent off on SBI credit and debit card transactions, including credit card EMI.
- Prime perks: 5 per cent unlimited cashback with the Amazon Pay ICICI card, plus extra festive offers for members.
- Exchange and financing: exchange deals on smartphones and appliances, no-cost EMI, and pay-later plans splitting baskets of Rs 1,500 and above into three interest-free instalments.
- Quick delivery: in over 120 cities served by Amazon Now, one out of every two products was delivered within minutes, including the iPhone 16 at its lowest price of the year in select cities.
FAQs
When did the Amazon Great Indian Festival 2026 begin?
The sale opened for all customers at midnight on October 8, 2026, with the lowest prices of the year across lakhs of products.
How strong was the opening compared to last year?
Products ordered more than doubled year on year, making it the biggest opening day in the history of the event, with over 440 million visits in the early phase.
Which products sold the most in the opening?
Premium smartphones led the charts, with the iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and OnePlus Nord 6 among the top picks. Big-screen TVs, laptops, large appliances, fashion and beauty also posted record numbers.
Are the best offers only for Prime members?
Prime members saved more than twice as much as last year through exclusive offers, but the headline discounts, bank offers, exchange deals and EMI options are open to all customers.
Is the sale only big in metros?
No. More than 72 per cent of visits came from outside the top nine metros, and orders were placed from every pin code in India, with first-time shoppers nearly doubling.
Festive shopping season is just getting started, and if the opening days are any indication, India’s online retail story this year is being written far beyond its biggest cities.
