Black Friday comes to India; both sellers, consumers eye great deals this year

It’s that time of the year again when US consumers will loose open their purse string to make most of the Holiday shopping. The first high of several peak spending days during the holiday season has officially flagged today with both retailers and consumers looking forward to make best of the Black Friday sales.
This, will be followed by Cyber Monday on November 28. Both the sales days are planned around Thanksgiving, and are the two biggest shopping events that set the pace for huge sales throughout the holiday shopping season in the USA.
While the shopping season has its roots in the US, Indian consumers and sellers are also gearing up to take part in the rush, thanks to the growing reach of Indian e-commerce.
Indian Sellers for US Customers
For instance, Indian sellers who are a part of the global selling programme on Amazon have shipped 10 lakh units ahead of the annual Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in the US.
The ‘Made in India’ range of products across 25,000 categories include consumer durables, kitchen utensils and cookware, clothing and fashion accessories as well as décor and luxury products. The shipments also include selections from clothing brands Biba, Fabindia and Manyavar targeting an overseas buyer base.
According to the release from Amazon, the selection includes products from Himalaya in organic and Ayurveda health supplements, and unique products from Indian sellers such as organic powders (Henna, Indigo, Multani Mitti, Moringa, Amla), healing crystals, and fish-eye lens for iPhones among others.
The shipments will serve Amazon Prime customers in the US with one or two day delivery timelines for the sale events. The marketplace also aims to fulfill orders from Indian sellers within three to five days from the date of order.
Launched in May 2015, the Amazon global selling programme showcases ‘Made in India’ products across Amazon’s nine global marketplaces.
“Our Global Selling program has empowered over 18,000 sellers. In the past few months, Amazon has identified top selling products in the US, closely engaged with sellers to provide them insights on these bestsellers and has worked backwards to enable them to offer products in these categories to global customers at best prices,” Director and General Manager of Seller Services, Amazon India, Gopal Pillai, said in a press release.
“Indian sellers who participated in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales last year witnessed growth in range of 2X to 10X for each of the two days and we expect a bumper season this year as well,” he added.
This year, dairy major Amul has also debuted on Amazon’s Global Selling Program. Amul is offering Amul Ghee to global customers through Amazon.com. Amul’s Ghee and Gulab Jamun are amongst the best-selling products in the US market with the former currently being ranked as one of the top SKUs on Amazon in the ‘Butter & Margarine’ category.
Read: Amul to sell products in US via Amazon
Great Offers for Indian Consumers Too
There’s a lot up for grabs for Indian consumers as well. Some sites such as Amazon.com ship select products to India. Then there are some technology companies who also have some offers and deals for, Indian consumers, their bestsellers.
According a media report, while Microsoft has announced discounts on Xbox One and Xbox 360 games along with exclusive offers for Xbox Live Gold members, Sony is set to compete by offering up to 60 per cent off on PS4 digital deals on the PlayStation Store — the company’s digital games storefront.
The report added that in India, deals are focused primarily on gadget and fashion. With almost 50 per cent of sale coming for that of gadgets.