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Packed festive show delivers a big ecommerce hit; sales jump 27%
The month-long festive season recorded about 27% year-on-year growth in sales on e-commerce platforms, driven by a revival in consumer sentiment after across-the-board GST cuts and robust demand from non-metro cities, analysts said.
“Ecommerce sales grew 26-to-28% this year due to an overall positive sentiment for consumption,” said Amar Choudhary, chief executive, 1Lattice. “Despite no major increase in discounts, growth was driven by a wider product mix, D2C brands, and new categories like puja essentials.”
In August, ET had reported that e-commerce marketplaces and online retailers were expected to ship Rs 1.2 lakh crore worth of goods this festive season, up 27% from last year. While latter projections suggested growth could top 30% after GST cuts made most goods cheaper, sales matched the earlier 27% forecast, initial assessments at the conclusion of the festival season showed.
The ecommerce festive sales began September 23, a day after the revised GST took effect, and concluded around Diwali on October 20. The period was crucial for online marketplaces after last year's slowdown had dented FY25 revenues at Amazon India and Flipkart.
Amazon's Great Indian Festival 2025 saw its highest-ever visits of 2.76 billion, with more than 70% of the customers coming from tier II and tier III cities. Premium smartphone sales climbed 30% year-on-year, festive decor as a category surged six fold, lab-grown diamonds climbed nearly fivefold, and premium apparel sales surged 150%, Amazon India data showed.
Flipkart also reported strong demand across mobiles, electronics, large appliances, and fashion, though it did not disclose specific numbers.
Blinkit, Instamart, Zepto and Meesho did not respond to ET's queries.
Also Read: Brands, sellers gear up for a strong finish to ecomm festive sale
Quick commerce boost
Quick commerce contributed around 12% of total festive gross merchandise value (GMV), driven by last-minute purchases and Diwali-style sales on apps. Flipkart Minutes saw 1.5 times growth with over 19 lakh orders between October 18 and 22, while BigBasket reported a 500% year-on-year GMV increase. Myntra M-Now doubled its orders during the festive period.
The surge was also reflected in UPI transactions, which hit a record Rs 94,000 crore in average daily value in October, up 13% from September.
ETtech D2C brands
Analysts said marketplaces drove volume while quick commerce expanded reach.
“The market is shifting toward quality, feature differentiation, and content-led discovery rather than pure price wars,” said Prabhav Mohta, associate director, GoBoult.
Snitch recorded 35 to 40% year-on-year growth, while Uppercase saw 40% higher demand than last year.
“Discounting was more strategic this year,” said Siddharth Dungarwa, founder of Snitch, noting that the brand focused on curated combos and limited-period offers.
Uppercase's B2B business grew 2.5 to 3 times, driven by Diwali gifting. “Luggage remains a key gifting category during Diwali,” said Sudip Ghose, founder and managing director of Uppercase.
FY26 outlook
Ecommerce consumption has been improving since March 2025, analysts said. “FY26 is shaping up stronger than FY25, which was affected by the stock market crash and global uncertainty,” said Choudhary of 1Lattice.
While brands expect a brief November slowdown, they anticipate sales to rebound in December with demand from weddings and the holiday season.
“Given the strong festive close, we expect momentum through December, driven by weddings, Christmas, and gifting occasions,” said Avi Kumar, chief marketing officer, FNP.
Source: EconomicTimes
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