Festive 2025: Day0+Day1 Ecommerce Sales Surge 25% with GST Boost, demand led by Smartphones and TVs
Nikhil Dalal
22nd September marked more than just the start of Navratri; it signalled a turning point for India’s festive e-commerce story. First 2 days sales surged by 23-25% year-on-year, marking a four-to-fivefold jump in growth over last year’s muted start. The twin forces of GST 2.0 reforms and festive sentiment powered a wave of premium smartphone and TV purchases, with loyalty members driving record demand. For the first time in years, India’s festive e-commerce season is not just about deals – it’s about policy shifts, consumer confidence, and platforms vying to capture the premium basket.
4x to 5x growth compared to first 2 days growth of festive sales 2024
According to Redseer, on Day 0+Day1 (22nd , 23rd sept), online retail GMV grew 23% to 25% year-on-year. This is 4x to 5x growth compared to the first 2 days growth of festive sales 2024. While in 2024, the growth was less as the market was witnessing higher inflation and lower spending power, and the sales started in the Shraadh period – A period generally when people try and refrain from buying anything new. This year, the momentum is primarily led by new GST reforms and 1st day of Navratri, where mobiles and TV sales shot up by premium-tier members on Amazon (Prime) and Flipkart (Plus/Black). We had earlier projected the entire festive growth to be about 20% to 25%, and the Day0 growth is in line with our earlier forecast.
First 2 days were for premium members on e-commerce platforms, which saw strong growth for some of the high-end products in smartphones and TVs. Users were eagerly waiting for high-end smartphones and had added them to their cart before the festive sale was live. While GST for mobile stayed at 18%, bank tie-ups and EMI schemes, coupled with high demand, and higher discounts on anchor smartphones, drove the sales (e.g Samsung S24 Ultra and iPhone 16) – Smartphones continued to be king. One of the factors for TV growth was the GST reduction from 28% to 18% (for >32 inches)
GST reduction on TVs (>32 inches) from 28% to 18% leads to growth in TV Sales
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22nd September was restricted to loyalty members, sales opened to all shoppers from 23rd September, making the impact of GST reductions more pronounced in Tier 1, Tier 2+ cities. User feedback suggested that demand was so strong that some apps even faced massive slowness and crashed within minutes of trying to place orders, suggesting positive sentiment of users to spend and grab flash deals and early-bird discounts.
Impact of GST Cuts on the first 2 days’ Sales of online retail
- Big-ticket categories surged: Large TVs and washing machines benefited directly from the GST reduction (28% to 18%). Early data shows a 6% to 8% drop in MRPs for leading TV brands (LG, Samsung, Sony), and then further amplified by festive discounts
- Fashion bifurcation: Over the years, we have noticed that sales for the Fashion category usually pick up slightly later during the sale period. However, this year, after mobile and electronics, mid-market apparel (INR 1,000 to 2,500) saw traction of users, with GST dropping to 5%
- Furniture: Sales were limited for the furniture, but as the GST has dropped to 5% products have started to move from wish list to cart
As the festive sale progresses, we expect electronics and fashion to pick up due to GST cuts and due to Navratri and Diwali festivals across all the city tiers, with higher growth expected from Tier2+ cities.
“According to our ‘Festive Trends Report 2025’, we have projected the E-commerce festive season sale 2025 to be the best in the last 5 years. The first 2 days have shown extremely strong growth through smartphones and a positive impact of GST on TV sales. In the coming days, sales of electronics and fashion are expected to pick up. As GST rates have dropped for fashion under INR 2500, premium fashion with INR 2499 will be interesting to watch,” said Nikhil Dalal, Associate Partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants.
Watch out for our mid-Festive Sales trends next week and our expert perspectives on the Festive Trends at the end of the Sale period.
The insights have been derived from Redseer ‘Benchmarks’, the most reliable insights platform on the India Internet Landscape