Republic Day Sales 2026: Amazon and Flipkart Seller Playbook

The Republic Day sales are the first big event of the calendar year and the most under-prepared, because they land three weeks after the December lull and most sellers are still reconciling Diwali. They are also the cheapest large event to advertise in, because fewer brands plan for them. This playbook covers Amazon's Great Republic Day Sale and Flipkart's Republic Day sale together, since they overlap almost day for day and most sellers run both. It is a 2026 playbook refreshed yearly, with every date in the "This year's dates" note. Read our Amazon fees guide and Flipkart fees guide before pricing, and see our marketplace ads management service if you want the event run for you.

What does the four-week countdown look like?

Four weeks before a mid-January sale is mid-December, which is why the countdown collides with the year-end. Deal portals on both platforms open in December; FBA and FBF inbound cut-offs fall in the first week of January, when your 3PL is short-staffed. Book everything before Christmas week.

Two things distinguish this event from the festive ones. First, it is a clearance window for winter wear and for festive stock that did not sell; price those SKUs to move, not to protect margin, because storage fees and February demand are both against you. Second, the smartphone and appliance categories dominate, and if you are not in them, your competition for ad placements is lighter than at any other large event. That is the opportunity: cheaper clicks on the same shoppers. See the ACoS and placement bid adjustment glossary entries for the mechanics.

What do you check during the sale?

• Twice a day on each platform: spend against plan, deal status, Buy Box or winning offer, and stock cover on the top ten SKUs.
• Daily: ACoS on Amazon and ROI on Flipkart by campaign against break-even per SKU (a 4x Flipkart ROI equals a 25% ACoS). Cut placements below threshold and move budget to search.
• Stock rule: pause ads on any SKU under three days of cover.
• Clearance SKUs: if a clearance SKU is not moving by day three, deepen the coupon rather than the ad bid; the problem is price, not visibility.
• Cross-platform: if a SKU sells out on one platform and holds stock on the other, move the ad budget with the stock.

Republic Day itself, 26 January, is a public holiday and usually the last or second-last day of both sales. Orders placed that day ship into a normal working week, so the pressure on your packing team is lighter than at Diwali, but the platforms' delivery promises do not change; a seller-fulfilled order accepted on the 26th still has to leave on time. Keep the check sheet running through the holiday and hand it to whoever is working, because the cancellation from an unattended holiday order counts against the account for the whole quarter.

What does the post-event week look like?

1. Restore bids within 48 hours on both platforms.
2. Reconcile. Amazon settlement and Flipkart payment reports against orders, returns, deal fees and reimbursements; raise cases inside the windows. This is also the reconciliation that closes the financial year's third quarter, so do it properly.
3. Returns. Winter wear and clearance stock return at higher rates than new-season goods; grade returns and file removal orders for unsellables before February storage fees.
4. Cool down. February is quiet. Keep hero SKUs in stock at normal ad levels so the rank gained holds into the Holi and summer events; plan the summer inbound now.
5. Retro: units by SKU by day by platform, clearance sell-through, ACoS and ROI by campaign, return rate.

What went wrong for sellers last year?

• Festive stock hangover. Redseer's read of festive 2025 put fashion growth in low single digits against a 20% to 22% overall rise, so many fashion sellers entered January overstocked and used Republic Day as an unplanned clearance, discounting deeper than needed and on ads rather than on price. Plan the clearance SKUs and their price floors in December.
• Inbound missed the cut-off. The first week of January is when 3PLs and fulfilment centres are short-staffed after the holidays, and shipments booked in the new year arrived after the cut-off. This is the pattern we see most in the accounts we audit and we say so from that experience, not from a published figure.
• Deal prices measured against December coupons. Sellers who ran deep December coupons found the platforms' required Republic Day discount sat below their floor, because the reference price had dropped. Stop discounting in the second half of December.

How do you pace a rupee ad budget?

Take a seller who normally spends ₹1,00,000 a month across Amazon and Flipkart ads and sets aside ₹2,00,000 for the two overlapping sales, a pre-week and two days after. Republic Day CPC inflation is lower than at Diwali, so the shape is flatter and the total smaller relative to normal spend.

Split the total between platforms in proportion to last January's sales, then move budget daily with stock and efficiency. Judge against break-even per SKU on each platform; the fee stacks differ and so do the thresholds.

FAQ

When are the Republic Day sales? In 2026, Amazon's Great Republic Day Sale ran from 16 January (Prime early access 15 January) and Flipkart's from 17 January (Plus and Black early access 16 January), both to around 26 January. 2027 dates are not yet announced.

When do I submit Republic Day deals? Deal portals on both platforms open in December. Submit before Christmas week; inbound cut-offs fall in the first week of January.

Is Republic Day worth it outside electronics? Yes, partly because fewer brands plan for it. Ad competition is lighter than at Diwali, so clicks are cheaper on the same shoppers, and it is the natural clearance window for winter and festive stock.

How much stock should I hold? About 1.5x to 2x normal cover on hero SKUs. Republic Day is shorter and smaller than the festive events, so festive multipliers overstock.

Should I run the same deals on Amazon and Flipkart? Keep price parity, because the events overlap and shoppers compare, but split the ad budget by last January's sales and move it daily with stock.

What should I do after the sale? Restore bids within 48 hours, reconcile on both platforms, grade returns and file removals before February storage fees, and keep hero SKUs stocked so rank holds.

Getting the Republic Day sales handled

Deals and inbound before Christmas, clearance priced in December, cheap January clicks used to build rank, and a fast reconciliation after: that is the method. If you would rather an experienced team ran ads and deals on both platforms for you, see our marketplace ads management service.