E-commerce Festive Sale Trends: 1st leg (11 day) closes at INR 60K to 62K Crore, up by 20% to 22%
Nikhil Dalal
India’s e-commerce festive season kicked off with a bang. The first 11 days of the 2025 sales event clocked a massive more than INR 60K Cr. GMV, which is nearly 3.5 times of business-as-usual (BAU) levels. This marked a 20%-22% year-on-year surge – almost double the pace of Festive 2024, which grew at just ~12%. With this momentum, the overall e-commerce market is expected to close 2025 with a robust 18%-20% annual growth.
The festive start on 22nd September was powered by a tailwind of Navratri kick-off and the launchpad of GST 2.0 reform, which unlocked shopper sentiment, moving consumers from cautious spending to upgrading across categories like mobiles, electronics, beauty, and home. About 90 mn shoppers participated in the first 11 days, with an average spend per shopper of close to INR 7000.
Key trends and highlights from the 1st leg festive 2025
- Tier 2+ continues to drive the bulk of GMV: 60% to 65% of shoppers came from Tier 2+ cities, fuelling growth in affordable smartphones, GST-benefited appliances, and home upgrades.
- Smartphones and Appliances are the driving categories: 60% to 65% contribution has come from these two categories, growing 18% to 20%. The assortment of premium smartphones at the top end, and sub ₹20K phones at the mass end, both spurred demand for smartphones, while GST benefits supercharged the sales of appliances like TVs and refrigerators.
- Fashion loses festive shine: Surprisingly, the category, which has been the prime driver of festive every year till now, only saw low single-digit growth. With year-round sales and discount cycles, consumers’ spending on fashion is getting spread out, leaving festive shopping baskets dominated by non-fashion categories
- Traditional e-commerce is still preferred over quick commerce: While quick commerce continued its BAU growth of >120%, a festive spike was not seen for quick commerce. For large-ticket items and non-essentials, traditional commerce is still preferred over convenience.
“As predicted in our Festive Trends Report 2025, the first phase has shaped up to be the best in the last three years with strong growth crossing >20%. As we move into the second phase of festive sales, home, beauty and possibly ethnic wear will spike on traditional e-commerce, while quick commerce is expected to ride gifting momentum in Diwali.” said Nikhil Dalal, Associate Partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants.
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Redseer will continue to publish festive updates and an end-of-season report towards end of October, drawing insights from its proprietary Benchmarks platform – the most reliable view of India’s internet economy.