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Business Standard
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Amazon Prime Day breaks records with 18,000 orders per minute in India
Amazon's latest Prime Day sale event broke records with over 18,000 orders per minute—a 50 per cent jump from 2024. Seventy per cent of new memberships came from smaller Indian cities. The e-commerce giant delivered thousands of items within four hours in major metros, with same-day delivery doubling year-over-year and two-day delivery to smaller cities rising by 80 per cent. 'Prime members purchased more items than any previous Prime Day shopping event, while we created new records on speed with the highest number of same-day deliveries,' said Akshay Sahi, Head of Amazon Prime, Delivery, and Returns Experiences, India and Emerging Markets. 'Thanks to our recent investment of ₹2,000 crore in the well-being of our associates and the scaling up of our operations, we were able to deliver even faster and safer this year.' Prime members shopped from thousands of new products launched by over 400 Indian and global brands, including Intel, Samsung, OnePlus, Bajaj, HP, BoAt, Puma, and Adidas. Purchases spanned smartphones, TVs, appliances, fashion, groceries, and home essentials. Compared to last year's Prime Day, smartphones saw high double-digit growth as Indians upgraded to flagship devices, driving up average selling prices across all city tiers. AI-enabled laptops, premium tablets, and health-focused wearables emerged as customer favourites, while premium audio segments achieved strong double-digit growth in Tier 2 cities. The home, kitchen, and outdoor category delivered its biggest Prime Day ever with 1.2X growth, supported by over 80 marquee brand launches. Fitness equipment sales surged 1.5X, with treadmill sales doubling, while furniture saw explosive growth with chairs and recliners achieving 10X increases. 'We also had a blockbuster Prime Day launch with our water purifiers, and it was a massive success,' said Arindam Paul, Founding Member and Chief Business Officer at Atomberg. Two-wheeler sales grew 1.9X across more than 500 cities, highlighting the expanding reach of online vehicle purchases beyond major metros. Eric Vas, President (Urbanite Business) at Bajaj Auto Ltd, said the company's latest offering, Chetak 3001, received an overwhelming response, becoming the No.1 best-selling electric scooter during Prime Day 2025. Beauty categories experienced exceptional growth, with skincare and colour cosmetics seeing 2X increases. Professional beauty services witnessed up to 3X growth, while Korean beauty brands saw up to 7X growth. Health-focused products gained momentum with whey protein sales increasing by over 80 per cent and coffee consumption growing 1.3X nationally, outpacing tea and growing 2X in Tier 2 cities. Shashi Kumar, the Chief Executive of Akshayakalpa Organic, reported significant gains, noting the company saw a remarkable 50 per cent growth in sales during Prime Day. Financing Fuels Premium Shift This surge reflects a broader trend where Amazon's financing options and exclusive content are enabling smaller Indian cities to drive premium consumption. For instance, 1 out of 4 spends this Prime Day were on EMI (equated monthly instalment), and 9 out of 10 EMI purchases were driven by No Cost EMI. The Premium Smartphone segment (priced higher than ₹30,000) witnessed over 60 per cent growth in value. Nearly 70 per cent of this growth came from Tier 2 and beyond cities. Amazon Fresh recorded its highest order volumes, with Tier 2+ cities leading 90 per cent growth, while daily essentials saw over 70 per cent of new customers coming from Tier 2 and 3 cities. This demonstrates Prime Day's expanding geographic reach. The Tier-2/3 city boom extended beyond consumers to sellers, with small and medium businesses seeing record participation. Notably, 68 per cent of these sellers were based in Tier 2 and 3 cities and beyond, while Amazon Business witnessed a 3X spike in new customer registrations during Prime Day, with 7X growth in Prime sign-ups.
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
AI job loss: 40% of roles at risk, experts warn
Live Events The exponential growth of artificial intelligence (AI) has led to widespread discussions about the future of work for humans. While AI promises efficiency and productivity, there's growing concern over its potential to replace human workers. Last month , the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned that AI could impact up to 40% of jobs to a report by McKinsey and Company, between 400 and 800 million jobs could be displaced worldwide within five years, depending on how quickly automation is shift could force around 375 million workers—14% of the global workforce—to transition into entirely new careers.A recent report from SEO. AI reveals that 14% of workers have already felt the impact of AI, although contrary to belief, the effects have been somewhat less severe than initially have found that AI-related job anxiety in India is to Microsoft's Work Trend Index 2023, 74% of Indian workers fear that AI could take their jobs. This concern is echoed in India's Economic Survey 2024-25 , which states that the rapid pace of AI developments has significantly heightened worries about its disruptive effects on the labour previous technological changes that affected blue-collar jobs, AI is poised to disrupt knowledge-intensive industries, which will bear the brunt of this shift, according to the UN report. ET reported in March how Atomberg founder Arindam Paul had raised the alarm about AI's impact on Indian white-collar jobs, predicting that 40-50% of such roles could claimed that many, including political leaders, fail to grasp the severity of the threat AI poses to the economy, particularly in sectors such as IT services and BPOs, where significant workforce reductions are to the concerns, AI experts, including prominent figures Bill Gates, Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI), and Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google), have issued an open letter warning about AI's called for urgent global action, comparing AI threats to other major risks like pandemics and nuclear all these concerns, many workers view AI in a more positive light. A study by SnapLogic found that 81% of office workers believe AI enhances their job performance and overall work India, while 74% of workers fear AI, 83% are eager to delegate as much work as possible to AI in an effort to reduce their automation continues to reshape industries worldwide, experts argue that governments and businesses must develop policies that support workers through this transition. Emphasising workforce adaptability and fostering job creation in emerging sectors will be key to navigating the challenges posed by AI.
