India’s festive season continues to be the most crucial period for e-commerce platforms, with sales volumes growing and consumer behaviour evolving rapidly over the last three years, according to data from Unicommerce.
The company said its analysis was based on more than 210 million festive transactions processed through its flagship Uniware platform between 2022 and 2024. It noted that the festive sale window, once confined to just over a week, has now stretched into a month-long shopping cycle, beginning ahead of Navratri and continuing through Dussehra, Karwa Chauth, Diwali and Bhai Dooj. This shift, it observed, had transformed festive shopping into an extended celebration rather than a single event.
The company added that while metros and Tier-1 cities were the key growth drivers in the early years, smaller towns had become central to festive demand. In 2022 and 2023, metros and Tier-1 markets grew faster, but in 2024, growth in larger cities slowed considerably while Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns collectively saw stronger expansion. These smaller towns now contribute more than half of total festive orders, reflecting the deepening penetration of online retail across Bharat.
Unicommerce also highlighted that fashion and accessories remained the most popular categories during the festive period, with states such as Karnataka and Maharashtra leading in volumes due to a strong cultural preference for festive apparel. Payment behaviour has also shifted, with prepaid transactions becoming the norm. In metros and Tier-1 cities, prepaid orders accounted for nearly four in five festive purchases in 2023 and remained high in 2024. Smaller towns, too, showed growing trust in digital payments, narrowing the urban-rural digital divide.
Looking ahead, the company said festive 2025 was expected to benefit from recent GST changes that lowered rates across FMCG products, textiles and consumer appliances. It added that businesses were likely to push products that had moved to lower tax slabs, aligning with rising value-consciousness among consumers.
Quick-commerce and artificial intelligence are also set to play an increasingly pivotal role. Unicommerce observed that quick-commerce was reshaping festive buying habits with last-minute gifting and impulse purchases delivered within minutes, while AI tools were enhancing demand forecasting, inventory optimisation and personalised shopping experiences.
The company concluded that these trends were combining to create a festive shopping season that was not only larger in scale but also faster, smarter and more attuned to diverse consumer needs.
