Festive season shopping on e-commerce platforms is on a high note so far, with order volumes growing 24% year-on-year and gross merchandise value (GMV) up 23%, according to data from Unicommerce. The surge was driven by strong demand from smaller towns, booming quick commerce orders, and rising appetite for high-value purchases across categories from gold to furniture.
Marketplaces continued to dominate overall sales, contributing 38% of total purchases, but growing only 8% in terms of order volume this year. Regionally, Tier II cities recorded the strongest growth at 28%, followed by metros at 24% and Tier III towns at 23%.
Overall. Tier II and III cities together accounted for 55% of total orders. The biggest growth drivers were quick commerce platforms, which recorded a 120% year-on-year jump in order volumes. These insights are based on over 150 million transactions processed on Unicommerce’s platform during the 25-day festive period.
In quick commerce, the season brought an unexpected gold rush. “We are finding around a 10x growth in gold and silver coins as compared to last year,” said Seshu Kumar Tirumala, Chief Buying and Merchandising Officer at BigBasket. A category head at another q-commerce platform added, “Last year, during Diwali, we would have done about Rs 50 lakh of gold and silver coins. This year we already crossed about Rs 7 crore and expect it to go above Rs 25 crore.”
Fashion platforms, too, rode the festive wave. Myntra saw strong shopping sentiment across regions, bringing two million new customers onto its platform. Indian wear, kidswear, casual wear, sports wear, accessories, jewellery, international brands, and premium beauty drove strong demand, said Bharath Kumar BS, Senior Director, Revenue and Growth, Myntra.
Non-metro cities such as Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Faridabad, and Coimbatore emerged as high-traction hubs, with strong demand for Indian wear, wedding collections, beauty essentials, and sportswear. He added that M-Now, Myntra’s hyper-speed delivery service, doubled its order volume during the festive sale in comparison to usual days.
Amazon, meanwhile, saw a sixfold surge in furniture and a 500% spike in festive decor. The e-commerce giant also saw customers preferring premium products across categories, as orders of energy-efficient appliances rose 50%, fitness equipment up by 20%, and gold jewellery sales nearly doubled.
“Premium fashion is seeing remarkable growth, with luxury watches and gold and diamond jewellery, including lab-grown diamonds, driving demand,” said Siddharth Bhagat, Director, Amazon Fashion and Beauty, India. As per current trends, customers buy fine jewellery starting at Rs 2,000 for Silver Jewellery and up to Rs 40,000 for Gold and Diamond Jewellery.
“In the last one year, we have seen more customers opt for 14 Karat purity, growing at 50% YoY for daily-wear purposes,” he added.
