Holi adds splash of colour to quick-commerce carts and campaigns

In addition to curating a Holi section, Zepto is also allowing users to send festival greetings to one another on the mobile application itself

Quick-commerce (qcom) companies are betting big on festival-led demand, with major players rolling out Holi-specific categories featuring kurtas, colours, snacks, and personal care products. The push combines curated assortments with promotional discounts to drive order volumes.

 

Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart, for instance, have launched dedicated Holi sections on their homepages to tap festival demand.

 

Under its Festive Finds category, Blinkit is featuring products such as T-shirts, mobile pouches, gujiya moulds, and colour sprays. Swiggy Instamart, alongside similar assortments, is offering discounts of up to 70 per cent on select Holi essentials.

 

In addition to curating a Holi section, Zepto is allowing users to send festival greetings to one another directly through its mobile app. In a social media post, Chandan Mendiratta, the company’s chief brand officer, said: “You can send Holi wishes directly to someone’s Zepto homepage — actual Holi greetings, with colours, paint, and balloons delivered straight to the Zepto homepage. Whatever you need to make your festivities more festive, we are just minutes away.”

 

BigBasket, too, is offering discounts of up to 75 per cent on colours and gulal, up to 67 per cent off on water guns and magic splash water balloons, ₹200 instant-off coupons on Holi offers, along with 10 per cent bank discounts through HDFC, ICICI, and Federal Bank, the company said.

 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Flipkart Minutes said women’s ethnic dresses and casual wear are seeing strong traction in the run-up to the festival. “Holi is one of India’s most energetic and widely celebrated festivals, and early trends on Flipkart Minutes show strong festive momentum building across categories. We are seeing rising demand for festival essentials such as Holi combo packs, colours, party accessories, balloon decorations, sweets, and assorted dry fruit, reflecting the scale of community-led celebrations this year,” the spokesperson added.

 

Not just qcom firms, e-commerce platforms are also retooling their homepages. Amazon has launched a dedicated Holi Store featuring festival essentials across fashion, beauty, toys, and home décor. The platform is also offering cashbacks on Amazon Pay UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions from March 1 to 5, along with travel savings on bus, flight, and hotel bookings.

 

Customers can also use Amazon’s built-in artificial intelligence (AI) tools to simplify shopping. For instance, Rufus AI enables personalised recommendations, Lens AI supports visual search, and AI Review Highlights offer quick summaries of customer feedback. 

In 2025, 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.