Lucknow, March 27, 2025: Uttar Pradesh has emerged as one of the fastest-growing markets for Amazon India's Books and Toys category, with learning-focused shopping trends driving impressive double-digit year on year growth for 3 consecutive years. Customers across urban centers, as well as in emerging towns are increasingly investing in books for learning and recreational purposes.
"We are delighted to see customers in Uttar Pradesh embracing books and toys on Amazon," said Rajarshi Guin, Director - Books & Toys, Amazon India. "Contrary to the perception that today's digital generation has moved beyond reading and physical play, our growth in Uttar Pradesh tells a different story. Customers are making deliberate choices towards resources that offer a lasting value —be it exam preparation materials, popular titles in regional language literature or skill-building toys. What's particularly exciting is how this is now a pan-Uttar Pradesh phenomenon, with a lot of our new customers now also coming from emerging towns. This geographic democratization is enabled by access to quality educational materials and developmental toys across the entire state, helping nurture the next generation of readers and learners.”
Aspiration drives growth for books
Uttar Pradesh demonstrates a vibrant reading culture spanning academics and leisure. The state has the highest demand for Hindi and Urdu literature, with poetry collections seeing remarkable popularity. Jaun Elia has emerged as the bestselling Urdu author, while "Gunaho ka Devta" by Dharamveer Bharti ranks as the top-selling Hindi novel. This rich tradition exists alongside academic excellence, with one in three books sold being for engineering, government, medical, or UPSC exam preparation.
Growth beyond traditional centers
A significant shift is reshaping the reading landscape beyond traditional urban centers. Emerging towns like Bareilly, Mathura, Muzaffarnagar, Azamgarh, and Jaunpur are driving new customer growth of over 20%. Lucknow exemplifies these trends, establishing itself as a diverse reading hub with robust growth across higher education, fiction, and children's books.
From Books to Toys: Learning remains central
This trend extends into toys as well. One in two toys sold in UP is either building sets, games, puzzles, outdoor activity toys, or a STEM product. While the top 5 cities - Lucknow, Kanpur, Noida, Ghaziabad, Varanasi maintain strong demand, clocking double digit growth, 20 emerging cities like Mathura, Muzaffarnagar, Bareilly now contribute 40% to UP's total toy demand. Ghaziabad, known as the "electronic city," has become famous for electric ride-on toys, with this category growing at 20% year-over-year.
Premium toys segment shows exceptional growth
Premium toy categories (INR 10,000 and above) from top brands like Lego and Hasbro are witnessing increasing demand. Homegrown D2C brands including Skillmatics, Smartivity, and Imagimake are seeing impressive growth, while demand for premium outdoor toy brands like Luusa has doubled in the last year.
Other highlights
- Amazon's vast selection of more than 20 million books and more than 2 million toys is available for delivery to all serviceable pin codes across Uttar Pradesh.
- Additionally, more than 2 lakhs books across 14+ Indian languages and more than 50,000 toys are also available with a one-day delivery promise.
- Amazon has dramatically expanded its delivery capabilities across Uttar Pradesh, particularly in Lucknow where selection of items across books and toys available for same-day delivery has tripled.
- For Prime customers, one in four orders for exam preparation and academic books now arrives either same or next day, ensuring students have quick access to critical learning materials.
- In major cities like Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, and Prayagraj, two-day delivery is now available for 40% of all Books and Toys orders.