Quick commerce emerges beyond Diwali shopping panic to breathe on the necks of e-commerce giants

Snacks running out before a Diwali party, a last-minute gift to buy, or diyas needed at the eleventh hour: these are the small festive emergencies that quick-commerce platforms have long catered to.

But this Diwali, the pitch is no longer just about getting essentials to the doorstep in minutes. Fashion, beauty, personal care and gifting are increasingly becoming part of the instant-delivery basket, as platforms and brands seek to make convenience a more regular part of shopping.

The shift is playing out against a strong festive backdrop. Redseer estimates that India’s online retail market will grow about 25% during the current festive season—its strongest performance in around five years. Quick commerce is projected to grow 110-120% annually, taking its share of festive online gross merchandise value (GMV) from 11% in 2025 to 18% this year.

The festive basket is getting wider

Online fashion retailer Myntra said orders on its quick-commerce service, M-Now, during the recently concluded Big Fashion Festival were more than 2.6 times of those recorded during last year’s edition. Ethnic wear led the demand, followed by western wear, accessories, personal care and footwear. During Diwali last year, M-Now saw a two-fold spike in orders across cities where it was live, Maneesh K Dubey, Vice-President, Category Management at Myntra, told ET Online.

“Shopping needs become more immediate as celebrations approach, with demand typically peaking in the final 2–3 days ahead of the festival day,” Dubey said, adding that apparel, perfumes, watches, accessories and beauty essentials also benefit from Diwali gifting.

Myntra’s beauty category data offers a glimpse of how the category is developing on M-Now. The platform lists 596 beauty brands, including 107 international brands, and saw a 1.5 times spike in beauty orders during Rakhi compared with regular days. The assortment spans everyday skincare and makeup as well as premium fragrances, with brands including Lakmé, Maybelline, Cetaphil, The Ordinary, MARS, Yves Saint Laurent and Ajmal. The figures point to a broad beauty offering on M-Now, spanning mass-market, derma and luxury brands.

Amazon’s ongoing Great Indian Festival offers another indication of how instant delivery is expanding its role in festive shopping. Amazon Now drove 23 times more first-time shoppers to Amazon.in year-on-year, while daily orders on the service grew 18 times and average order value rose 30%, the company said. In more than 120 Indian cities, one in every two products was delivered within minutes during the event.

The overall shopping volume during the Great Indian Festival was up more than 50% year-on-year, with more than 70% of customer visits coming from outside the metros.

Amazon Now data also points to the growing reach of online festive shopping beyond major cities. The company said towns with populations below 10 lakh bought as many products per customer as some larger cities did. It also reported that customers in Tier-3 cities bought more than 50% more beauty products year-on-year.

Flipkart Minutes, too, is reporting strong festive demand. A spokesperson said festive lighting, diyas, home décor and gifting essentials are leading pre-Diwali demand on the platform. East India is recording 40% growth in orders, while demand in other Tier-2 and smaller cities has grown nearly 20%, the company’s spokesperson told ET Online, citing strong traction in Guwahati, Vadodara, Nagpur, Jamshedpur and Durgapur.

Beauty brands see a channel & a gifting opportunity

For The Body Shop India, quick commerce has become an important growth channel. Rahul Shanker, group CEO of Quest Retail, said the channel had delivered 2–3 times growth in orders in the last two years, while online contributes more than 35% of overall revenue, compared with 20–25% two years ago. Quick commerce accounts for nearly 15% of the business.

Festive demand is particularly relevant for bodycare and gifting, which together account for around 75–77% of the company’s portfolio. Gifting contributes 15–20% of Diwali sales, compared with 8–10% in non-festive months, Shanker told ET Online. Fragrance is among its fastest-growing categories, while the company is promoting curated gifting and personalised gift boxes.

RENÉE Cosmetics also sees quick commerce gaining importance. Co-founder Ashutosh Valani said the channel accounted for approximately 15% of revenue in FY26. A recent Blinkit campaign delivered 11.5% incremental sales and 48% lower customer acquisition cost, he told ET Online.

Valani also noted that products that are easy to discover and use can perform well during festive occasions, citing liquid sindoor, lipstick and kajal around Karwa Chauth. The company reported a 25–30% sales increase in the week before Karwa Chauth, with online channels registering nearly 50% pickup.

Is it new spending or a faster route to existing purchases?

The bigger question for the sector is whether quick commerce is creating additional festive consumption or shifting purchases from marketplaces, supermarkets and neighbourhood stores.

Nikhil Sethi, National Sector Leader – Consumer Markets at KPMG India said quick commerce is becoming relevant to households not only through purchase frequency but also through the range of categories and occasions for which they use it. During festivals, immediacy can enable “compressed planning”, allowing consumers to delay purchases or shop closer to the occasion.

Speaking to ET Online, Sethi said the channel’s proximity, rapid fulfillment and broad assortment can serve needs previously met by neighbourhood stores or local markets. But he cautioned that the shift is not simply a transfer of market share as convenience, assortment and discovery can also create incremental consumption occasions, including for gifting, beauty, electronics, home products, sweets and festive essentials.

Redseer’s analysis lends support to the distinction. Quick commerce’s market size grew from about $1 billion in the first half of 2023 to around $9 billion in the first half of 2026, while monthly transacting users rose from 8 million to more than 60 million. The report noted the channel has moved beyond the online grocery shopper base it initially drew from and is now attracting users and spending from offline retail, while also creating new demand for products such as energy drinks, packaged coconut water and premium snacks.

For Diwali, that could mean both channel migration and additional purchases. A planned grocery basket shifting online is one thing; a last-minute gift, extra decor or beauty products bought because it can arrive quickly is another.

The test comes after Diwali

Quick commerce’s festive opportunity may be strongest in the final days before the festival, but the long-term prize is turning occasional urgency into repeat behaviour. Deloitte South Asia’s Partner and Consumer Industry Leader Anand Ramanathan said the market is blurring the line between top-up and planned shopping. He cited average order values on Q-comm platforms rising from around Rs 250 to Rs 650–700, while monthly order frequency per user has almost doubled year-on-year.

Yet speed and wider assortment come with costs. Ramanathan told ET Online that faster fulfilment, expanded ranges and dark-store expansion can add operational complexity and pressure profitability. A more sustainable model, he said, may combine instant delivery for urgent needs with more economical fulfilment for planned baskets.

The demand for convenience is also visible beyond quick commerce. At-home beauty services offer a reminder that not every festive plan is last-minute. Yes Madam co-founder and CEO Aditya Arya said this year, the bookings rose nearly 75% compared with the same festive period last year, with waxing, facials, manicures and pedicures among the popular services. But advance bookings remain the majority; instant salon and spa services are relatively new, and their effect on booking patterns is still emerging.

For quick commerce platforms, however, the real test lies ahead: whether the festive surge in orders and demand for higher-value products can be sustained even after the Diwali lights come down.