Bengaluru, Sep 24 (IANS): E-commerce major Amazon saw the single largest day of Prime sign-ups -- 1.9 times higher than last year with 68 per cent coming from tier 2 and 3 cities in India -- in the first 36 hours of its Great Indian Festival sale.

More than 500 million Indians had access to cash back and EMI offers on Amazon.in with 50 per cent more customers opting for EMI or Pay later over last year during the festive sale, the company said in a statement.

"We are humbled by the increase in new Prime member sign ups and customers shopping across categories as they trust Amazon as their preferred online shopping destination", said Manish Tiwary, Vice President and Country Manager, India Consumer Business, Amazon.

In the first 36 hours, small and medium businesses, startups, artisans, women entrepreneurs sold around 10 lakh unique products to customers across the country.

Amazon.in saw single largest day of Prime sign ups; 1.9X higher than last year with 68 per cent coming from Tier 2 & 3 cities

More than 500 million Indians had access to cashback and EMI offers on Amazon.in with 50 per cent more customers opting for EMI or Pay later over last year

Smartphones, consumer electronics, fashion and groceries categories attracted most new customers and Amazon saw high demand for laptops and 5G smartphones.

"More than 60 per cent sales for Amazon Fashion came from Tier 2 and 3 cities. Amazon Business witnessed 50 per cent growth in customers and 100 per cent orders in the last 36 hours," said the company.

The overall sales in the first festive week is likely to touch $5.9 billion this year.

Bengaluru-based Redseer has predicted $11.8 billion worth gross merchandise value (GMV) during the entire festive month up to Diwali.