The ultra-fast delivery model aided by discounts has been the key driver for these platforms, with a shift toward quick commerce in the last week of festive sales, according to ecommerce consultancy Datum Intelligence.
These platforms have created a separate Diwali section on their apps, featuring categories such as puja essentials, Dhanteras items, gifting, home decor, party supplies, fashion, electronics, sweets, and dry fruits.
This comes at a time when ecommerce festive sales, Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival, which started on September 27, are ending later this week.
“The first four to five days of the festive season is when ecommerce platforms see a surge in sales as consumers focus on big-ticket items like appliances, phones, fashion, and home decor, with 60-70% of planned purchases made during this time. Quick commerce platforms may not be a big platform, as people are looking for planned purchases,” Satish Meena, adviser at Datum Intelligence told ET.
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“However, in the last week, with daily festivals, consumers make last-minute purchases for gifts, snacks, and need-based items like groceries or small home appliances. Timing becomes crucial here. So, this is the time when you will see massive peaks in quick commerce spending,” he added.
On September 19, ET reported that quick commerce may account for $1 billion of these ecommerce sales in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV) during the festive period. GMV is the total value of goods sold on ecommerce platforms, excluding discounts and returns.
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Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands and sellers are expecting significant growth in sales on quick commerce in the days leading up to Diwali, on the day of Diwali, which falls on October 31, and on Bhai Dooj on November 3.
“This festive season, we saw that during regular days, ecommerce has definitely been the largest channel for us, but especially around gifting days like Karwa Chauth (October 20), we saw a strong 5-10x growth in daily sales on quick commerce platforms. That is what we are expecting now for Diwali as well,” Pradeep Krishnakumar, cofounder of fashion and lifestyle brand Zouk told ET, highlighting that even quick commerce platforms are focusing on immediate gifting products, such as wallets or sling bags.
Aditi Handa, cofounder of Fireside Ventures-backed bakery brand The Baker’s Dozen said that the brand performs much better on quick commerce compared to ecommerce. This is primarily due to shorter delivery times and the nature of the products, which are either perishable or provide quick gratification with products like cakes or cookies.
“During Dussehra and Diwali, the bread business takes a bit of a hit. Having said that, categories like cakes and cookies actually see a rise. We are currently observing about a 20% increase from business as usual (BAU) on quick commerce, solely due to this Diwali gifting period,” she said. “For us, the festive period extends from October to December. This quarter will see at least a 30-40% increase in sales compared to the previous quarter,” Handa added.
“We can see the Diwali fever kicking in, as over the last two weeks we have seen much higher growth compared to the previous two weeks on quick commerce. We have been growing 100% month-on-month on quick commerce, and this time we grew 100% week-on-week,” said Prateek Singhal, cofounder of footwear startup Yoho while emphasising that the surge is temporary.
According to Aditi Agrawal, cofounder of Stellaris Venture Partners-backed home decor and lifestyle brand Nestasia, marketplaces saw sales peak around 7-10 days before Diwali, while quick commerce and exclusive brand outlets (EBO) are seeing the highest demand 3-5 days ahead of the festival.
“We are seeing a 15-20x spike for gifting products during the festive period vs BAU on quick commerce channels. These products include pre-boxed ceramic product gifts and glassware sets,” she said.
