Ecommerce and Quick Commerce See Strong Growth Ahead of Diwali

As the Diwali festival approaches, ecommerce (ecom) and quick commerce (qcom) platforms are experiencing a notable surge in consumer activity. Shoppers are expanding their purchases beyond basic needs to include a wide array of festive items such as gold coins, sweets, decorative pieces, fashion apparel, home appliances, and premium gift hampers.

Data provided by Unicommerce, a software-as-a-service platform specializing in ecommerce enablement, reveals that overall ecommerce order volumes increased by 21 percent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) between October 6 and November 4, 2026. Quick commerce platforms led the expansion, showing remarkable gains with a 75 percent rise in order volumes and a 38 percent increase in gross merchandise value (GMV). Direct-to-consumer (D2C) websites also performed well, posting 30 percent growth in order volumes and 26 percent growth in GMV. Marketplaces experienced more modest growth, with order volumes up 8 percent and GMV rising 6 percent.

Within the quick commerce segment, Flipkart Minutes saw orders triple between October 30 and November 5. This spike was primarily driven by purchases of festival essentials, home and kitchen products, décor, and gifts. Specific categories showed impressive growth: orders for diyas expanded twelvefold, home décor items grew fivefold, and kitchen appliances such as juicer mixers, air fryers, and induction cooktops surged tenfold. Products related to puja rituals increased fourfold, while gifting items like perfumes, deodorants, and hampers more than doubled.

Swiggy’s Instamart platform also recorded significant growth in festival-related sales. Gold coin orders surged 23 times in the week before Dhanteras, a key festival day. Orders for traditional sweets (mithai) rose over 55 percent, fresh flower purchases increased by 42 percent, and sales of LED diya lights went up by 88 percent. Additionally, protein chips orders jumped 239 percent, indicating growing consumer interest in novel snack options during the festive season.

Fashion and gifting categories are also showing strong momentum. Snapdeal reported a 73 percent year-on-year increase in its fashion customer base during the four-week Diwali period, with women’s western wear nearly doubling in growth. Prepaid orders on the platform rose 130 percent year-on-year, and the number of fashion sellers from emerging cities more than tripled. Myntra highlighted that its D2C and international brands experienced nearly twice the order volumes compared to regular days during its Big Fashion Festival. The uplift continued into Diwali, with key fashion categories growing 1.2 times year-on-year. Myntra’s hyper-speed delivery service, M-Now, also saw double-digit order growth.

Companies are enhancing personalized gifting options to meet rising demand during Diwali. Tarun Joshi, founder and CEO of multi-category gifting platform IGP, explained that the company begins preparations months in advance by monitoring gifting trends and consumer preferences. They collaborate closely with packaging partners to ensure personalized items are ready for sale. Joshi expects a 40 percent increase in sales this Diwali compared to the previous year, fueled by both personal and corporate gifting.

Luxury chocolate brand SMOOR started its Diwali preparations well ahead of the festival, focusing on product development, packaging, manufacturing, and corporate gifting. Their festival collection launched in August. Founder and CEO Vimal Sharma pointed out that corporate gifting has become a significant growth driver, contributing ₹22 crore in revenue during FY25. In the first quarter of FY27 alone, corporate gifting sales grew 37 percent year-on-year.

The overall festival consumption trend is also mirrored in Meesho’s results. The ecommerce platform reported a 33 percent year-on-year increase in net merchandise value over the 90-day period before Dussehra, despite shifts in sale dates. The number of first-time buyers rose 16 percent quarter-on-quarter, and annual transacting users reached 284 million.

These developments highlight the expanding role of ecommerce and quick commerce platforms during major festive occasions in India. As consumer preferences evolve and digital shopping becomes more convenient, companies are adapting by offering a broader range of products and faster delivery options. This trend not only boosts sales during festive seasons like Diwali but also reflects the growing importance of online retail in the country’s consumer market.