Amazon’s Biggest Sale Is Live, But Why Is The E-commerce Giant Cutting Jobs Ahead Of Diwali?

New Delhi: Amazon has announced another round of job cuts, with employees across India, the US and the UK reportedly affected just as the e-commerce giant’s Great Indian Festival 2026 sale gets underway. Fewer than 1,000 white-collar employees are believed to have been impacted globally, while around 1,000 employees in Amazon’s retail unit in India are reportedly affected. 

The latest restructuring is primarily centred on Amazon’s Stores business, which oversees the company’s main e-commerce operations. Employees were informed about the cuts through internal communication channels, including Slack, with reports of affected teams emerging around the start of the festive shopping season.

Amazon Explains Why Employees Are Being Let Go

In a termination email circulating on social media, Amazon told employees that the decision followed a review of its organisational structure and priorities.

“After a thorough review of our structure and priorities and what we need to focus on going forward, we have made the hard business decision to eliminate a number of roles across your organisation.”

The company has also outlined compensation for employees affected by the decision. The email said they would receive “A non-working period with your full pay and benefits, based on your current employment status. A severance package and transitional benefits, which may vary by country and employment status.”

Reports suggest the cuts have reached teams involved in customer service, selling partner services and marketplace support. Engineering positions linked to Amazon’s retail operations have also reportedly been affected.

Another Round After 30,000 Corporate Job Cuts

The latest reduction comes after a much larger restructuring at Amazon. The company reduced about 30,000 jobs in its corporate offices from late 2025 up to January 2026 to lower expenses and make its company structure simpler. 

One of the biggest job cuts in Amazon's history happened under CEO Andy Jassy, who took over from Jeff Bezos in 2021. Between 2022 and 2023, the company let go of about 27,000 jobs in its corporate offices. 

AI is also a big part of how Amazon is changing its plans and organizing itself again.  The company is shifting its focus to AI and cloud operations and is putting a lot of money into building the necessary infrastructure to back up these goals. 

Amazon is thinking about investing around $220 billion into data centers, chips, and other infrastructure to support AI.  It also spent more than USD 100 billion last year to build new data centers that will help support AI systems for its own use and for businesses that use its services. 

Jassy has earlier asked workers to adjust to the company's increasing emphasis on AI. “Those who embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well-positioned to have high impact and help us reinvent the company”.

Jassy added, “We expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company”.

Amazon Cuts Jobs As India Investment Continues

The layoffs happen while Amazon is still growing its business in India, so the recent changes are more about moving resources around rather than leaving the market.  In March, Amazon launched a new campus in Bengaluru that covers 1.1 million square feet, which the company calls its second-largest office in Asia.  The facility is expected to have space for more than 7,000 employees who work in areas like e-commerce, payments, technology, and seller services. 

Amazon's Great Indian Festival 2026 started for everyone at midnight on October 8.  The sale provides discounts of up to 65% on various home appliances like televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines. 

Customers who use their SBI debit or credit cards can receive a 10% instant discount, even on credit card EMI payments.  Amazon Pay users with an ICICI Bank Credit Card can get unlimited 5 percent cashback. Prime members also get an extra Rs 250 cashback on certain devices.  Amazon is also giving 10 per cent cashback on purchases made using Amazon Pay Later EMI.