India’s festive e-commerce season has opened with shoppers spending across a wider range of categories, taking gross merchandise value (GMV) to an estimated $2.5 billion in the first two days of sales. While smartphones continue to account for the largest share of online festive purchases, fashion, beauty, large appliances, and electronics are gaining traction as well.
The first two days of the sale, on October 8 and 9, generated around six times the business-as-usual daily run rate, according to estimates by Redseer Strategy Consultants. Shoppers placed approximately 80-90 million orders across platforms including Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho and Ajio, with an estimated 60-65 million consumers making at least one purchase.
The growth is being driven primarily by higher volumes rather than a disproportionate increase in average selling prices. Consumers are buying more units across categories, including affordable fashion, beauty products, smaller electronics and home goods, rather than concentrating their spending on a few high-value purchases. For e-commerce companies, this broadening of the shopping basket could help sustain demand across the festive period, even as competition for consumers’ wallets intensifies.
The opening two days also point to the growing importance of shoppers from smaller towns and rural markets. Around two-thirds of the 60-65 million consumers who purchased during this period came from Tier 2 cities and beyond, including rural areas. First-time shoppers doubled from a year earlier, with many buying fashion and lower-priced electronics.
For context, around 150-160 million unique shoppers typically transact across e-commerce platforms in a business-as-usual month. The festive sale has therefore brought more than a third of that monthly shopper base online within its first two days.
“The opening two days pointed to India’s festive e-commerce basket getting wider, growth is being led by order volumes, with consumers spreading spend beyond just mobiles into fashion, electronics and appliances as well,” says Nikhil Dalal, associate partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants.
The first leg of the sale is expected to attract 100 million shoppers over 11 days for the first time, he adds.
Fashion, appliances expand their share of festive spending
Fashion has emerged as one of the key growth drivers. The category’s GMV grew 22-25% year-on-year during the first two days, accounting for 15-18% of total online retail GMV and recording three to five times its business-as-usual average. Tier 2 cities and smaller markets contributed 65-70% of fashion GMV, as shoppers began purchasing outfits for Navratri and other festive occasions.
Demand is particularly strong at the two ends of the price spectrum: premium and luxury fashion at one end, and value fashion at the other. Products priced below ₹500 recorded the fastest growth among price bands, with Tier 4 and smaller towns and rural markets leading within the value segment. Ethnic wear grew 25-30% of fashion GMV, with sarees and lehengas emerging as the top-selling subcategory.
The report suggests festive demand is not restricted to consumers trading up to premium products. Affordable purchases are also drawing a wider set of shoppers online, particularly those entering e-commerce for the first time.
Large appliances and electronics together accounted for 25-27% of GMV during the opening days. Televisions, refrigerators and air conditioners contributed more than two-thirds of large-appliance sales. The television market, in particular, is seeing consumers opt for larger screens: 55-inch models from TCL, LG, Samsung and Xiaomi represented more than 75% of the top-selling television stock-keeping units (SKUs).
A narrowing price gap between 32-43-inch televisions and larger models is making upgrades more accessible. Meanwhile, electronics recorded around 14 times their business-as-usual average during the first two days, led by laptops and Internet of Things devices. Audio products also saw demand across quick commerce and conventional e-commerce.
This comes after electronics grew by more than 20% in the first half of 2026, partly as consumers brought forward purchases amid expectations of higher prices in the second half of the year.
Faster deliveries and smaller-town demand reshape the sale
The expansion of the festive basket is also playing out across shopping formats. Quick-commerce platforms recorded GMV four to five times their usual daily average, as companies such as Amazon and Flipkart used their quick-commerce operations to increase their presence in the festive shopping cycle. An estimated 14-15 million shoppers purchased through quick-commerce apps during the opening two days.
At the same time, value-commerce channels are reaching consumers in smaller markets. Around 40-42 million shoppers from Tier 2 cities and beyond purchased fashion and lifestyle products, while consumers in smaller towns also bought lower-priced branded beauty products.
Faster fulfilment is becoming another part of the competition. Marketplaces and sellers increased next-day delivery options in metros and Tier 1 cities, with same-day delivery and installation available for several electronics and appliance products.
The early numbers suggest that the festive e-commerce opportunity is expanding beyond the race to sell more smartphones. A combination of first-time shoppers, affordable fashion, big-ticket upgrades and quicker deliveries is bringing more categories and consumers into the online shopping cycle.