CashKaro data shows how Indians shopped this festive season: Smarter savings and growth beyond metros

NEW DELHI: CashKaro drove over Rs 1,000 crore in GMV across 38 lakh orders on Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and AJIO in just six days of festive sales, between October 7 and 12, 2026. Compared with an equivalent six-day Business-as-Usual (BAU) period, GMV increased about 18 times, while order volumes grew more than sevenfold.

CashKaro shopping data shows what India is buying and how spending, category demand, regional growth and deal discovery are shifting.

₹1,003 CrGMV, 7–12 Oct

38 lakhOrders placed

~18xGMV vs BAU

₹2,639Average order value

Key Takeaways

• Bigger baskets: Average order value rose about 2.4x, fromRs 1,100 toRs 2,639.
• Growth spread beyond metros: Tier 2 markets grew fastest at 722%, with Bhubaneswar (~910%), Pune (796%) and Patna (777%) among the top-growing cities.
• Fashion and electronics offset a mobile slowdown: Men's ethnic wear (28.6x) and televisions (26.4x) led category growth, while mobile phones declined 7–10% year-on-year.
• Telegram became the fastest-growing channel for brands: It drove 50 million clicks to partner sites as deal-sharing grew nearly sixfold, with EarnKaro powering 80% of all deal links and many brands seeing 15x+ ROAS.
• Smart shoppers stacked savings and earned too: Shoppers combined sale discounts, credit card offers and CashKaro cashback. Some went a step further and earned commission by sharing deals via EarnKaro.

1. Bigger Baskets, more orders

Festive sales drove both higher order volumes and bigger baskets via CashKaro compared with BAU.

Metric	BAU (6 days)	Sale (6 days)	Change
GMV	₹55.4 Cr	₹1,003.3 Cr	~18x
Orders	5.04 lakh	38 lakh	+654%
Average order value	₹1,100	₹2,639	~2.4x
Cashback given to users by CashKaro	₹6.1 Cr	₹26 Cr	~4.3x

2. Fashion, Electronics and Beauty-led category growth

Demand spanned a variety of categories, from festive apparel, electronics and everyday personal-care products to emerging online categories like pets and furniture. Compared with BAU, orders grew significantly across several categories:

Category	Order growth vs BAU
Men's ethnic wear	28.6x
Televisions	26.4x
Men's branded T-shirts & topwear	24.9x
Tablets	23.0x
Laptops and desktops	21.6x
Beauty and personal care	20.8x
Men's sports footwear	20.4x
Watches	17.1x

Mobile phones, while the largest GMV driver in the sales, saw a 7–10% decline year-on-year. Rising memory chip and component costs have pushed up retail prices and slowed upgrade cycles, and sales leaned heavily on trade-in offers, no-cost EMIs and exchange programmes rather than first-time purchases.

3. Product trends and best deals

Hero deals during the sales that grabbed the most attention from shoppers included:

Product	Platform	Deal price	MRP	Discount
Acer Aspire One Laptop	Amazon	₹40,990	₹84,999	52%
PUMA Ferrari Sneakers	Flipkart	₹3,268	₹10,999	70%
New Balance 530 Shoes	AJIO	₹4,800	₹11,999	60%
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE	Flipkart	₹44,999	₹89,999	50%

Prices and discounts correct as at 12 October 2026, and may have changed since this report was published.

Samsung and LG were the top-selling television brands. Apple continued to draw strong interest across its iPhone 17, MacBook, iPad and AirPods offers. Top beauty listings included Lakmé in eye makeup, NIVEA in skincare, Maybelline New York in lip makeup, Philips in grooming and L'Oréal Paris in haircare.

4. Festive shopping growth spreads beyond metros

Tier 2 markets recorded the highest growth in GMV, followed by Tier 1 and Tier 3 markets.

• Tier 2: 722% growth compared with BAU
• Tier 1: 684% growth
• Tier 3: 639% growth

At the city level, Bhubaneswar recorded approximately 910% growth, followed by Pune at 796%, Patna at 777%, Hyderabad at 748% and Bengaluru at 740%. Other cities also saw substantial increases, including Lucknow (+696%), Kolkata (+692%), Jaipur (+683%), Delhi (+646%), Mumbai (+579%) and Chennai (+529%).

Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Patna were among the leading contributors to GMV during the sale period, alongside Delhi and Kolkata.

5. Telegram deal-sharing grows nearly sixfold

Telegram became a major driver of virality and traffic for e-commerce. CashKaro's sister app EarnKaro is used by Telegram group owners to create affiliate links for sale deals, and powered 80% of all deal links shared on Telegram.

India is the largest market for Telegram, with over 100 million users. The Telegram base is high-intent and shopping-savvy, so brands increased their marketing spends on Telegram via EarnKaro by over 10x, and many of them achieved over 15x ROAS (return on ad spend) on these promotions. Telegram emerged as the fastest-growing marketing channel for brands this sale season.

In the six days of the sale, over 5 lakh deal posts were shared on Telegram using EarnKaro links, nearly six times the 87,000 posts shared during BAU. These posts drove over 50 million clicks to partner sites, making Telegram the most effective way to drive traffic – similar numbers via Google or Meta would cost many times over.

Note: Telegram figures reflect a separate deal-sharing dataset and are not included in CashKaro's overall GMV figures.

6. Smart shoppers stacked their savings

The savviest festive shoppers looked beyond the sale price. CashKaro data across categories shows they stacked savings on the same purchase:

• Sale discounts: Festive markdowns on Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and AJIO.
• Card offers: Bank discounts such as SBI's 10% instant discount during the Amazon sale.
• CashKaro cashback: Extra cashback for shoppers who visited these sites via CashKaro.
• Earning via EarnKaro: Some went further, sharing deals with friends, family and on social media via EarnKaro links and earning commission on the sales they drove.

The first three together brought the effective price well below the sale price. This points to a more informed, value-conscious shopper who plans around offers and trusts recommendations from people they know, which is why social and affiliate-led commerce is fast becoming a key way India shops during sales.