How's The Josh At Amazon, Flipkart?

While war rooms are set up closer to the sales, warlike preparations go into it almost 12 months in advance to ensure that on D-day the firm gives its best to its customers.

At the stroke of midnight when the biggest festival season sales went live, millions of online shoppers logged in to grab the best deals on offer.

As Amazon and Flipkart started their annual sales on September 27, it was their war rooms that captured all the back-room action 24X7.

'Action Ready' seemed to be the theme at the war room of Amazon Great Indian Festival (AGIF) 2024, where this reporter experienced the thrill of the annual event.

Executives explained that while war rooms are set up closer to the sales, warlike preparations go into it almost 12 months in advance to ensure that on the D-day the firm gives its best to its customers.

Some 30 km away from Amazon's main office in Bengaluru, at the headquarters of Walmart-owned Flipkart, there was a similar war room drill.

Thousands of Flipkart employees, or 'Flipsters', gathered to celebrate and kick off the 11th edition of the company's highly anticipated The Big Billion Days (TBBD) 2024.

Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and the leadership team addressed the employees, highlighting the need for collaborative spirit.

As the wishmasters set off to fulfill last-mile customer demands, Geo+Mqube band played in the background.

The two biggest in the e-commerce game -- Amazon and Flipkart -- are looking for a much larger play this time.

This year, Amazon has set up over 20 war rooms compared to about 10 last year. These span across several floors each equipped with real time data dashboards that provide live updates on WebCsite traffic, sales performance, customer sentiment and system health.

"We want to serve the entire country at the fastest speed possible," said Saurabh Srivastava, vice president, categories, Amazon India.

Back from an Europe trip earlier this week, he straight headed to the Bengaluru headquarters of Amazon to steer the sales.

In an interview from the war room, Srivastava said: "There is a lot of focus on how we make sure that our operational processes and readiness is in place. So, the intensity and the scope of war rooms has increased. Every category has its own war room."

Like other years, executives manning the war rooms are served gourmet food and snacks.

Energy drinks are in regular supply too. For in-between breaks and think time, there are bean bags.

Teams across the globe are working closely to make sure the customer expectation is met at a time when rival Flipkart is competing fiercely on its own version of the sales -- Big Billion Days.

To meet the festival demand this year, the Jeff Bezos-founded online major added three new fulfilment centres to its existing pan-India operations network.

Over 43 million cubic feet of storage space and sort centres across 19 states as well as 2,000 delivery stations are what make up this network. 

According to an Amazon India executives, premium smartphones (about Rs 30,000) saw the highest year-over-year growth among all price segments on day zero of the AGIF.

They said luxury beauty saw 80 per cent growth compared to last year's event. Watches have seen 8X growth and premium watches witnessed 10X growth versus business as usual.

At Flipkart, employee wellness and engagement are getting attention, according to executives.

Several initiatives have been curated including games, fun leadership interactions and recreational activities.

"BBD Fans-in-Chief' have also been appointed to capture all the action, offering live streams and real-time updates on social media. Snacks, beverages, cotton candy and ice cream are in full supply too."

There are designated war rooms at Flipkart for teams to track real-time developments.

Flipkart believes more than one out of four Indians are expected to visit its site during the sales.

To meet the demand, Flipkart has launched 11 new fulfilment centres and created over 100,000 jobs across over 40 regions.

The company has also increased the hiring of women in the blue collar workforce by 24 per cent compared to BBD 2023.

"Our enhanced supply chain tech, including machine learning for route planning and faster sorting, ensures quicker deliveries across 19,000 pin codes," said Harsh Chaudhary, head of growth (vice-president), Flipkart, adding, "We are also expanding same-day and next-day delivery services."

Where is quick commerce in all this?

According to sources, Flipkart is seeing high consumer demand for electronics on its quick-commerce service called Minutes after BBD kick off.

Besides Amazon and Flipkart, others too are experimenting with the festival sales.

At the Meesho office in Bengaluru, for instance, the atmosphere is electric as the team gears up for its Mega Blockbuster Sale.

Efforts are in full swing, with employees closely tracking real-time metrics. Here too, meeting rooms are not only equipped with the tools needed to ensure the sale runs smoothly but are stocked with snacks, energy drinks, and bean bags.

"Festive vibes fill the office, with colorful decorations, delicious food, and team members dressed in ethnic attire, celebrating both the season and the hard work behind the scenes," said a Meesho spokesperson.

E-commerce companies and online sellers are expected to ship merchandise worth $12 billion to consumers in India this festive season, up 23 per cent compared with about $9.7 billion last year, according to data from market research firm Datum Intelligence.

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com