Following COVID-19's second wave, the e-commerce giant’s Vice President (consumer business), Manish Tiwary, said that the e-retailer has been experiencing more than expected growth in customer acquisitions, especially since 85 percent new customers are hailing from non-metropolitan areas.

Moreover, the Indian arm of the international e-commerce giant is hoping to host its major event, that is, the Prime Day sales in the country from July 26-27 this year, while it banks on a revival in consumer confidence.

Tiwary's remarks are notable as they show a resurgence in growth for online shopping platforms like Amazon India following a period of sluggish sales in April and June.

“It's obvious that some people regard e-commerce as a secure method of shopping. Consumer demand has been very strong because some of the restraints (lockdown rules) have been lifted. Our new customer acquisition is going swimmingly. “Our Prime members are purchasing more frequently, and non-Prime customers are purchasing across a wider range of categories,” Tiwary added.

Prime subscribers, on average, spend more time on the site than non-Prime users, which is a worldwide trend.

In addition to one-day to two-day delivery, Prime provides access to its streaming services as well as additional benefits and discounts.

The fact that Amazon India will have Prime Day later this month indicates that the company is seeking to build on its current momentum and increase overall sales.

During Prime Day last year, Amazon India achieved record gross sales of $500-$600 million.

“Some of our smaller businesses, such as personal care, hygiene, and a lot of things related to sports, fitness, and hobbies, have taken off, and we're seeing silver linings. People have developed new hobbies, which is happening on the customer side, and the signal is being picked up by the vendors as well,” Tiwary explained.

“We're seeing a better upswing in non-metro markets, which is due to more people coming from there. Non-metro markets are doing better in terms of client growth,” he noted.

In Surat, Tiwary presented Amazon's digital kendra, or offline centre, which will assist small businesses in going online and selling.

This is part of Amazon's goal of digitising 10 million small enterprises in India, of which it has digitised approximately 2.5 million.

“We just completed the Small Business Day (SMB), and preliminary findings indicate that it was the best-ever SMB day. Customers are making purchases. “E-commerce is still minimal, and I won't use it as a barometer of the economy,” Tiwary said, “but we can see that business is definitely back on both the buyer and seller fronts.”

Prime Day is a significant event for the ecommerce company since it attracts new customers who sign up for Prime subscriptions in order to take advantage of promotions.

Last year, Amazon India announced that new paid subscriber sign-ups had doubled from the previous year, with 65 percent of new customers hailing from outside the top ten cities.

Amazon has 200 million Prime members worldwide. It does not, however, provide any figures particular to India.