E-Commerce Giants Gear Up for Festive Sale Surge

Live dashboards simultaneously illuminated at the stroke of midnight at Flipkart's Bengaluru office on the Outer Ring Road and Amazon India's World Trade Centre headquarters.

Executives at both firms kept an eye on real-time data streams that tracked payment rates, inventory levels, and delivery logistics in expansive "war rooms" as millions of customers rushed online platforms.

It was the beginning of India's festival shopping period, which is expected to increase 27 per cent to take total sales to ₹1.2 trillion. The military-style operations centres , which have full-time catering services, wellness programmes, and monitoring stations for different categories , and show how India's peak retail period has changed to a high-stakes, digital battlefield.

Also Read: Sustainable Last-Mile Delivery: Innovations Driving Green Logistics in India

The Amazon Great Indian Festival (AGIF) launches at midnight on September 22 for Prime members, with the broader sale beginning on September 23.

Amazon also has "Action Ready" war rooms are in operation 24/7, with a category-specific war room for smartphones, electronics, and fashion and beauty tracking sales simultaneously with a central command operations team monitoring technology, homepage management, and payments.

Executives explained that preparations run nearly a year in advance. “Each space is equipped with live dashboards tracking traffic, sales, customer sentiment, and system health, enabling instant troubleshooting, from payments to deliveries,” said Saurabh Srivastava, vice-president, categories, Amazon India. “With this powerful synergy, AGIF this year is shaping up to be one of Amazon’s most well-coordinated shopping events yet.”