India’s online festive season sales are projected to surge 27% year-on-year to more than Rs 1.2 lakh crore in 2025, according to the Datum Festive Barometer.
Shifting consumer behavior
With urban sentiment turning net positive for the first time since 2022 and category shifts broadening the festive basket, the report indicates that the sharp rise in sales underscores both the return of consumer confidence and the structural diversification of India’s digital shopping market.
While mobiles and lifestyle categories remain dominant at just over half of total gross merchandise value (GMV), their share has slipped marginally as grocery, appliances and personal care gain ground. This diversification points to a broader festive basket that extends beyond traditional big-ticket purchases.
Rise of Quick Commerce
“Quick commerce is poised to play a significantly larger role in India’s festive e-commerce landscape in 2025. Its share of online festive sales is expected to jump to 12%, up from 8% in 2024, reflecting the growing consumer preference for instant deliveries and last-minute convenience during the shopping season,” the report noted.
Amazon and Flipkart remain the preferred shopping destinations, with 83% and 79% of surveyed consumers planning to buy from them. Myntra and Meesho continue to hold strong in fashion and value-conscious segments, while Blinkit has entered the top five, underlining the rapid ascent of quick commerce.
The rebound comes after a soft 2024, when inflationary pressures and cautious discretionary spending slowed growth. That period also saw card-based transactions lose ground to UPI, with y-o-y growth in card payments slipping to single digits.
“After a brief decline in October-November 2024, credit and debit card spending on eCommerce rebounded strongly, growing 20% y-o-y in March 2025 and maintaining double-digit momentum into Q1 FY26. April 2025 saw 18.4% YoY growth, almost doubling from 10.6% in April 2024 and surpassing even 2023 (12.9%),” the report said.
It added that consumer sentiment has also recovered across urban and rural India with urban confidence (+0.4 index value) turning net positive for the first time since 2022, and discretionary spending was up to 37.6% in August from 27.8% in May.
According to the report, rural sentiment has hit its strongest level on record (+37.2 index value), with over half of respondents reporting higher non-essential spending. Looking ahead, 73.6% of rural and 43.6% of urban consumers expect to increase their spending in the next 12 months, suggesting that the current surge may carry into the 2026 festive season.