Amazon makes inroads into small-town India

Amazon India reports more people shopped on its platform than ever before during the recent festival month, including a surge of new customers from smaller towns.

Why it matters

As elsewhere, the pandemic has accelerated a shift to online shopping and this is especially evident at the festive season, when, on one estimate, GMV (gross merchandise value) will grow at 23%. As these behaviours filter down into smaller towns, advertisers will rethink their media spend, directing more into Retail Media. 

Amazon says 

• Seventy-nine percent of new customers came from tier II and III towns.
• Three out of five signups to Prime came beyond the metros; one out of two Prime members shopping during the festive season came from tier II and III towns. 
• More than one million customers purchased a smartphone from the platform for the first time during the festive sale.
• Customers from almost every PIN (postal index number) code shopped during the month-long celebrations (99.7%).
• “Most loved categories” from ‘Local Shops on Amazon’ included major appliances, kitchen, home entertainment (TVs), furniture, home, garden, and grocery. 

Sourced from Economic Times