Amazon India is repositioning itself as a comprehensive business partner rather than just an e-commerce platform, slashing seller fees and introducing artificial intelligence-powered tools ahead of the country's crucial festive shopping season that could determine the year's retail performance.
Earlier this year, the company had announced that it has reduced referral fees to zero for 1.2 crore products priced below Rs 300.
Recently, it also cut fees across fast-moving categories, including fashion and home appliances.
These moves are designed to help its 1.7 million sellers—more than half from smaller cities—capitalise on India's biggest shopping period.
“We have become a one-stop shop and a full-stack partner for sellers.
"We are not just an e-commerce platform—we support product placement, promotion, advertising, and end-to-end selling,” Amit Nanda, director of selling partner services at Amazon India, told Business Standard.
Amazon India is expecting its flagship sale event ‘Amazon Great Indian Festival’ (AGIF) this year to be the biggest ever.
AGIF 2025, is expected to start from September 23, with 24 hours early access for Prime members.
Chief rival Flipkart is also planning its ‘Big Billion Days’ sale event during that time.
Amazon has made a lot of investments to prepare for the event and is expecting huge traction from tier-II and tier-III cities.
It has announced a major expansion of its operations network, with 12 new fulfilment centres (FCs) and the expansion of six others.
The expansion, which includes the above-mentioned regions, will help sellers better serve customers by placing selection closer to them.
“We now have 17 lakh sellers. More than half of them are actually from tier-II cities,” said Nanda.
“We have a reasonably good understanding of the industry and customers, and we also have (industry research) data which shows that more than 90 per cent of customers are planning to buy more than they did last Diwali.
"That gives us confidence of success.”
Ahead of the ‘Great Indian Festival’, Amazon India is enhancing seller support with AI-driven tools and analytics.
These include dashboards and research tools that offer data-backed insights for inventory planning and product strategy.
Generative AI simplifies listing creation by 70 per cent, while an upgraded Seller University provides bilingual training and expert guidance. Operational tools improve delivery coordination.
The tech-led approach aims to help sellers scale efficiently during the festive surge and maintain momentum beyond.
“Amazon is now stepping in as a full-stack partner to solve the remaining challenges,” said Nanda.
“This combination of technology and ecosystem support is what is enabling sellers in tier-II and tier-III cities to grow their businesses more rapidly than ever before.”
According to a report by Datum Intelligence, festive sales are expected to grow 27 per cent to about Rs 120,000 crore in 2025.
In urban India, consumer sentiment turned net positive for the first time in three years, with 37.6 per cent reporting higher non-essential spending in July 2025 — signalling a decisive rebound in discretionary demand.
In rural India, non-essential spending surged to 54.7 per cent in July 2025 — the highest in two years — with net sentiment at +37.2, pointing to expectations of further growth ahead of the festive season.
With the simplified two-tier goods and services tax (GST) structure, set to take effect September 22, retailers are also expecting a 15 to 20 per cent surge in sales, according to analysts.
“To ensure seamless compliance, we are proactively updating our systems with the revised GST codes, enabling our sellers to smoothly transition to the new tax structure,” said Nanda.
Last year, the company’s month-long AGIF witnessed 1.4 billion customer visits, the highest ever.
About 70 per cent more sellers crossed over Rs 1 crore in sales and over 3 crore products were delivered the same day or next day.
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