E-commerce sales this festive season are projected to reach about Rs 1.15 lakh crore ($14 billion), a 20-25% rise year-on-year, as per Redseer Festive Season 2025 report. Quick commerce has already grown 150% in the pre-festive period, while value commerce is up 30-35%.
E-Commerce Prepares for Record Festive Demand
As per analysts, festive sales can contribute up to 40% of annual turnover of retailers in categories such as consumer electronics and jewellery.
“The overall impact is expected to be positive,” said Kushal Bhatnagar, partner, Redseer. “The reduction in tax rates, coupled with planned discounts, will bring down end-consumer prices significantly, thus boosting overall demand. Appliances are expected to benefit the most. Low-ticket products such as fashion, beauty and personal care, grocery, and home and furniture will also benefit.”
“Big-ticket purchases have always been popular during Diwali,” said Kishore Thota, director of shopping experience at Amazon India. “With GST reductions, we expect significant jump in demand this year. We are working closely with sellers to prepare for this surge and have strengthened our supply chain.”
Flipkart is also upbeat. “We are witnessing strong early momentum across mobiles, electronics, fashion, beauty and home,” said Rajneesh Kumar, Flipkart’s chief corporate affairs officer. “Tier-2 engagement is deepening, helped by live commerce, a clear indicator of evolving consumer behaviour. This growth is unlocking opportunities for small and medium businesses in remote regions.”
Meesho is focusing on value-conscious households in smaller towns. The platform has created about 12 lakh seasonal job opportunities—70% in Tier-3 and Tier-4 regions— to cater to festive sales. “The festive season is when many Indian households place their trust in e-commerce,” said Sourabh Pandey, CXO of fulfilment and experience at Meesho. “We have ensured seller readiness and seamless logistics at scale.”
Tata CLiQ, another leading e-commerce platform, is seeing festive momentum across both its fashion and luxury platforms. “Typically, we witness a 50% month-on-month jump as we move from the pre-festive period into the festive shopping season,” said Gopal Asthana, chief executive of Tata CLiQ.
Quick commerce is also gearing up for festive season. Bigbasket expects its Diwali sales to be 2-2.5 times higher than last year, driven not just by groceries but by electronics, gold coins, crockery and festive hampers. “We have recruited and trained delivery teams in advance to ensure service reliability during peak demand,” said Seshu Kumar Tirumala, chief buying and merchandising officer. Bigbasket’s edge, he argues, lies in “the depth of assortment and the quality of our own brands”.
Making a bold move in competitive e-commerce space, Swiggy Instamart is holding its first large-scale festive sale from September 19-28, ahead of Amazon and Flipkart, and offering deep discounts on over 50,000 products like electronics and groceries, with 10-minute delivery in select areas.
Logistics firms are feeling the surge too.
Ajay Rao, founder and chief executive of Emiza, a logistics firm, said: “Online deliveries are clearly up from last year. While all categories are growing, fashion and lifestyle and beauty and personal care are leading the surge… With the new GST reform set to boost consumption, we expect all sectors to see upward momentum, further accelerating India’s e-commerce growth story.”
Offline Retail Holds Strong Amid GST Cuts
Brick and mortar retailers are also holding their ground for the quarter that can make or break the year, banking on trust and in-store experiences.
Electronics manufacturer Panasonic is estimating offline channels to drive approximately 80% of sales through trusted retail networks, while the remaining would be through the online market. “We are looking at a growth of approximately 20% growth over last year,” said Fumiyasu Fujimori, managing director of Panasonic Marketing India. “Early indicators reflect improved consumer confidence in the market, thanks to the GST rationalisation and income tax exemptions.”
This year, GST cuts from 28% to 18% on televisions and air-conditioners have given households a powerful reason to upgrade.
“The consumer electronics industry is poised for a strong festive season, with the return of significant pent-up demand,” said Shibashish Roy, chief executive of Croma. “The GST reforms are pro-consumer and will be a major growth driver… For televisions, with GST harmonised at 18%, we expect price corrections on large-size OLED and QLED panels to significantly lift growth. Similarly, in air-conditioners, the tax cut should help reverse the recent market decline and drive strong double-digit growth.”
Optimistic that this festive season will outperform compared to last year, Swiss Military is leaning on its expansive offline presence. “We are expecting our over 4,000 multi-brand outlets and expanding exclusive store footprint as they continues to drive over 75% of revenues, especially for large-ticket purchases in aspirational Tier II and Tier III markets,” said Anuj Sawhney, managing director of the company.
Taneira, which has around 80 outlets across 41 cities, is expecting like-for-like growth of 30% this year. “Online contribution is increasing, as it has lower price points seeing more traction,” said its chief executive Ambuj Narayan. “Overall sales of sarees are higher, but ready-to-wear is also gaining traction online, compared to offline.”
Even though 80% of Titan’s Helios customer journey begins online, the company said their over 280 stores across 100 locations are still the most trusted points of sale. “Building on our current growth of 30%, we are expecting the festive season to perform even better with over 40% growth,” said Rahul Shukla, CSMO, Titan Watches Division.
Operated by Trent, Westside with over 200 outlets across India, is also expecting stronger sales this Diwali compared to last year. While its stores remain the heart of the festive shopping experience, “both online and offline channels continue to perform strongly and play complementary roles,” says Umashan Naidoo, head of Marketing and Beauty, Trent.
Redseer’s Bhatnagar noted: “Pricing differences will continue to drive choices in large-ticket categories such as appliances and furniture. In smaller categories, different consumer cohorts and segments have different channel preferences, and they may continue to exist.” In other words, Diwali 2025 is less about clicks defeating bricks, and more about which channel can best grow the festive pie and capture loyalty beyond the holiday.