NEW DELHI : A key growth engine in e-tailing, quick commerce’s widening appeal beyond everyday groceries into fashion, electronics, and beauty is likely to gather further pace this festive season, building on the gains during the recent festival-led shopping cycles.
India’s e-commerce and quick commerce platforms are gearing up for the festive season, with healthy value growth expected as consumers balance premium purchases with bargain-hunting amid higher prices, as reported by news agency PTI.
Quick commerce is emerging as a key growth driver, expanding beyond groceries into categories such as fashion, electronics and beauty. Analysts expect this broader adoption to gain further momentum during the festive season.
Shubham Nimkar, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, expects the festive season to be “healthy in value terms, but more measured in volume terms”, as told to PTI.
While consumers remain willing to spend, higher prices are making them more selective. Premium consumer electronics are expected to perform well, while value-conscious shoppers are likely to remain focused on deals. Rising smartphone prices, driven by higher memory costs, could also encourage consumers to time purchases around major online sales events, PTI reported.
A report by research consultancy Infisum projected India’s e-commerce market to nearly triple from USD 125 billion in 2024 to USD 345 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual rate of 18.4 per cent. The growth is expected to be driven by quick commerce and increasing integration of artificial intelligence.
By 2030, e-commerce is expected to account for 10-12 per cent of India’s retail spending and serve 420-440 million online shoppers, according to the report.
Quick commerce is also moving beyond its traditional grocery base.
Devendra Meel, Chief Business Officer at Zepto, said festive shopping is becoming more diverse, with brands introducing festive-specific stock-keeping units for different occasions and regions, including smaller festivals such as Ekadashi and Teej, PTI reported.
Nimkar said consumers were increasingly comfortable using quick commerce for consumer electronics and urgent purchases. However, categories that require discovery, wider assortment and price comparison are likely to continue favouring traditional e-commerce.
Achint Setia, Chief Executive Officer of Snapdeal, said quick commerce is “largely solving for immediacy in metro India”, while non-metro consumers are shopping with greater intent and comparing value. He said the two formats serve different occasions rather than directly competing, as said to PTI.
“Value-seeking remains the dominant behaviour for the consumer we serve. Our buyer is looking for quality at the right price, not a brand premium. That said, ‘value’ doesn’t mean the cheapest possible option.
“We’re seeing consumers trade up within their budget, upgrading to better quality or more aspirational products, as long as the price stays sensible. It’s aspiration within a value frame, not premiumisation in the way it plays out for metro, brand-led shoppers,” Setia said to PTI.
Non-metro India continues to remain central to festive demand. Setia said more than 80 per cent of Snapdeal’s sales came from non-metro regions, PTI reported.
A Meesho spokesperson said 73 per cent of the platform’s orders during Rakhi came from non-metro markets, while seller participation rose 72 per cent year-on-year. The Infisum report also found that 66 per cent of new D2C orders now originate from Tier II and Tier III cities.
Ragini Varma, Chief Business Officer at AI-native retail technology company Fynd, said the festive demand window is moving earlier instead of becoming more concentrated around Diwali, PTI reported.
“Fynd’s data shows that pre-Navratri D2C order volumes were already up 16 per cent year-on-year in August 2025, making the pre-season an increasingly important selling window.
“In 2025, D2C GMV around Diwali grew 47 per cent year-on-year, compared with 34 per cent in 2024. For 2026, our expectation is that this earlier demand pattern will continue, with D2C Diwali GMV growth projected at 35-40 per cent,” she said, as reported by PTI.
Artificial intelligence is also playing a growing role in shopping behaviour.
Setia said 76 per cent of Snapdeal’s orders were now influenced by AI in some form, citing its “Snap & Shop” image-based search tool.
The Meesho spokesperson said AI-led discovery systems were helping personalise recommendations and identify hyperlocal trends, while creator-led video content is expected to play a bigger role during the festive season.
The Infisum report projected AI and machine learning would improve retail productivity by 35-37 per cent by 2030 through conversational commerce, virtual try-ons and voice-enabled shopping.
The festive season is also expected to generate significant seasonal employment. Amazon India said it has created more than 1.6 lakh seasonal work opportunities across its pan-India operations network spanning over 400 cities, including tens of thousands of roles within its Amazon Now quick commerce network.
Meesho expects to enable over 10 lakh indirect seasonal job opportunities this festive season, including about 6.5 lakh across its seller network and 3.75 lakh across its logistics ecosystem. Roughly 1.3 lakh sellers are expected to hire seasonal workers for packaging, manufacturing and warehousing.
In contrast, Zepto Chief Operating Officer Vikas Sharma said the company invests in a “stable, permanent workforce rather than relying on temporary staffing”, even during peak demand, with a focus on training and upskilling, PTI reported.
Nimkar said festive demand pulled forward by discounting would likely be followed by a softer December-January period. However, in categories such as smartphones and appliances, genuine replacement and upgrade needs mean the slowdown would represent normalisation rather than a shift in consumption, PTI reported.
