Amazon Great Indian Festival Fashion Trends: Premium fashion grows 2x faster as Gen Z hits 50% of shoppers this festive season

As Amazon gears up for its Great Indian Festival from October 8, fashion shopping this festive season is expected to be shaped as much by premiumisation and Gen Z-led discovery as by discounts, according to Nikhil Sinha, director, Amazon Fashion India. Sinha said premium fashion is growing twice as fast as the broader category, while Gen Z has grown from a third of Amazon Fashion’s customer base two years ago to about half today.

For the festive season, Amazon Fashion will offer its lowest prices of the year across more than 2,000 brands and hundreds of thousands of styles. Sinha said the trends that have built through the year, particularly the shift towards premium brands and broader, look-led shopping among younger consumers, are likely to become more pronounced around Diwali.

Gen Z, in particular, is changing how consumers discover fashion. Unlike millennials, who typically arrived with a specific product in mind, Gen Z shoppers increasingly come looking for an entire look or aesthetic they have seen through creators or social media. A festive purchase, therefore, can span clothing, footwear and accessories rather than a single product.

“Gen Z is now half our customer base and we expect that to hold during the festive season,” Sinha said. He added that the behaviour is increasingly influencing other cohorts too, with millennials also building broader baskets.

Around 70% of Gen Z shoppers discover fashion through creators and social platforms rather than search, while nearly two in three trust creators over brand communication, according to Sinha. Smaller-city business for both Gen Z and premium fashion is growing twice as fast as in metros, he said. 

Now, that is also changing Amazon’s role from simply responding to searches to curating looks. One in three Gen Z shoppers already uses Amazon’s AI shopping assistant Rufus for fashion, including to compare products, get styling ideas and stay within budget.

Meanwhile, premiumisation is becoming increasingly selective. Consumers may remain price-conscious when buying basics but spend substantially more on products that have greater relevance to their identity, such as sneakers or festive outfits. On Amazon Fashion, one in every five dollars spent goes towards premium brands, which Amazon defines as brands priced at two to three times the category’s average selling price. Premium fashion is growing twice as fast as the rest of the category, with smaller towns again showing faster growth. 

Footwear is a particularly strong beneficiary. Shoes priced above ₹10,000 are growing six times year-on-year, driven by performance footwear and sneakers, Sinha shared. 

Quick commerce push

Quick commerce is adding another layer to this year's Great Indian Festival sale. Amazon Now is designed to capture fashion’s emerging “fast lane” occasions, such as last-minute gifts, travel accessories and event-specific purchases.

Amazon has also expanded Amazon Now to more than 120 cities across India, doubling its reach in two weeks, with deliveries supported by nearly 800 micro-fulfilment and urban fulfilment centres. In September, Amazon said Amazon Now had crossed $1 billion in annualised gross sales in India over the preceding three-month period and is targeting more than 300 cities by year-end.

Still, Sinha said speed will complement rather than replace traditional fashion shopping. “There will be specific moments and those moments will keep expanding where speed will be very, very important,” he said, while more considered purchases such as wedding lehengas will continue to depend on wider selection and browsing.