Holi sales surge as qcom and ecommerce firms see strong festive demand

Quick commerce and e-commerce platforms reported a surge in Holi demand, with premium play accessories, eco-friendly items and festive essentials driving sales across metros and smaller cities

Quick commerce (qcom) and e-commerce platforms witnessed a sharp spike in festive purchases this Holi, as consumers spent more on premium play accessories while also opting for eco-friendly products and ritual essentials.

 

For Zepto, compared to all cities, while Bengaluru saw the highest sales of Holi-specific items like colours and water guns, Delhi witnessed a rise in demand for sweets. 

“Bengaluru emerged as the ultimate Holi hotspot, leading the celebrations with the orders of Gulal, Holi colours, and water guns. Delhi became the gujiya capital of the season, with orders for the festive favourite driving overall mithai demand alongside Mumbai and Bengaluru. When it came to festive sips, Mumbai earned the title of thandai capital,” the company said in a statement. 

Another qcom platform, Swiggy Instamart, said: “Holi celebrations this year are clearly getting bigger and more planned. On Instamart, we’ve seen sharp week-on-week spikes across categories, with premium water guns surging nearly 36 times and water balloons over 44 times, showing that consumers are going all-in on play,” a company spokesperson said, adding that demand for Holi colours grew nearly 33 times, while festive staples like gujiya and thandai also saw a rise in sales.

 

The qcom verticals of traditional e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon also witnessed a rise in sales of festive products.

 

For instance, on Flipkart Minutes, the momentum grew in the final stretch, with orders increasing six times year-on-year and exceeding 2.5 lakh orders on March 4 between 12 am and 12 pm. The products that saw high demand include mobile pouches, men’s and kids’ T-shirts, women’s kurtis, sunglasses, speakers and everyday essentials.

 

“The shift towards ‘just-in-time shopping’ was reflected in purchases across Holi colours, pichkaris, sweets and ice cubes. While metros such as Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata remained strong, the high participation from non-metro cities like Jamshedpur, Surat, Guwahati, Siliguri, Visakhapatnam, Vadodara, Durgapur, Varanasi and Nashik underscored the rising demand for instant, value-driven shopping,” a Flipkart spokesperson said.

 

Amazon, too, reported strong festive momentum across qcom and e-commerce verticals. On qcom sales, it said: “Through Amazon Now we are delivering thousands of last-minute Holi essentials to customers across parts of Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru within minutes. From water balloons and gulaal to water guns and pichkaris, along with festive favourites like gujiya, customers are relying on fast and convenient deliveries along with special offers this Holi.”

 

On the e-commerce side, the platform said the demand for gulaal grew 1.2 times, water balloons rose 1.4 times, water pistols grew 1.3 times, photo booth props grew 1.5 times, ice creams and chocolates saw a 1.3 times uptick and colourful wigs saw a 1.2 times uptick. It added that the sale of cow dung cakes for Holika Dahan increased 1.5 times year-on-year.

 

Betting big on festival-driven demand, almost all players had launched Holi-specific categories featuring kurtas, colours, snacks and personal care products, combining targeted assortments with promotional discounts to boost order volumes.

 

During the same festival last year, qcom firm Flipkart Minutes witnessed an 80 per cent surge in demand for Holi essentials, with colour purchases spiking 25 times on the day of the festival. Similarly, Zepto experienced a rise in sales, recording a 4.4-fold year-on-year increase in gujiya sales, a six-fold rise in water balloon sales, and an 8.4-fold growth in thandai sales.