Amazon Diwali Dhamaka sale offers huge discounts

Online shoppers are in for a bigger bonanza this festive season with Amazon flagging off a weeklong Diwali Dhamaka sale on Friday morning to take on home-grown e-tail rivals Flipkart and Snapdeal. Amazon has revamped its website for the week-long sale and is offering massive discounts across multiple products. As part of the Diwali Dhamaka Week, Amazon has rolled out special 'Lightning Deals' every hour from 7 am-6 pm.

The e-tailer saw hectic buying after offering discounts ranging from 40-60 per cent on products like mobile phones, watches, books, electronic gadgets. iPhones sold at discounts up to 40 per cent were lapped up in a matter of hours and had already run out of stock by noon. Most of other offerings were also fully sold out in the first six hours.

Amazon's website crashed once due to the surge in demand. Amit Agarwal, country manager and vice-president of Amazon India said, "We have been receiving an overwhelming response from customers since morning."

The deals are available for a limited time and till stocks last. While the website shows listed products selling out, there are already reports of deals on other websites for prices lower than that of Amazon. Another major issue that will test Amazon is the delivery of products once the sale has been finalised.

Flipkart's sale saw users complaining after products bagged during the rush were ultimately removed from their shopping carts despite payment. Amazon. in now faces the same challenges and will have to address concerns over site stability and inventory back-up.