e-commerce
Tier 3 cities drive Valentine’s e-commerce demand, says Fynd report
Personal care jumps to no 2 category as Sunday shopping peaks
MUMBAI: Fynd has released its Valentine’s Day e-commerce report 2026, highlighting a sharp shift in how Indians shopped during the season of love, with self-gifting, tier 3 demand and trust-led purchasing reshaping online retail behaviour.
The analysis, based on data from major marketplaces including Myntra, Flipkart, Amazon, Tata Cliq, Ajio and Nykaa, shows Valentine’s commerce in 2026 moving away from grand gifting towards personal indulgence and regional expansion.
Tier 3 cities emerged as the strongest demand drivers, accounting for more than 54 per cent of total order volumes, outpacing metros and reinforcing the rapid mainstreaming of digital commerce across Bharat. Sunday proved to be the peak shopping day, signalling leisure-led browsing and last-minute purchasing behaviour rather than weekday-driven sales spikes.
Personal care was the breakout category of the season, climbing to second place with a 14.16 per cent share of orders, overtaking categories such as footwear and ethnic wear. Clothing retained the top spot at 17.06 per cent. Within personal care, Tata Cliq emerged as the preferred marketplace.
The report also points to a notable comeback for cash on delivery. While COD accounted for 55 per cent of overall orders during the Valentine’s period, nearly 70 per cent of personal care purchases used COD, reflecting higher trust thresholds for grooming and intimate categories.
Regionally, overall order volumes were led by north India, followed by west, south and east. Personal care demand, however, skewed differently, with west and east leading consumption. Bihar entered the top five ordering states, underlining the growing spending power of emerging markets.
Fulfilment patterns also diverged from recent omnichannel trends. Store-led fulfilment fell sharply during the Valentine’s window, with just 6.5 per cent of personal care orders dispatched from stores, as brands leaned heavily on warehouse networks to manage speed and inventory control.
Fynd chief business officer – India Ragini Varma, said the data reflects a shift from occasion-led gifting to personal expression-led shopping, requiring category-specific intelligence and real-time inventory orchestration rather than one-size-fits-all festive strategies.
e-commerce
Amazon unveils first Trustworthy Shopping Experience Report
32,000 bad actors targeted, 15 million fake products removed in 2025.
MUMBAI: In a marketplace where trust is the real currency, Amazon is showing its receipts. Amazon has released its first-ever Trustworthy Shopping Experience Report, offering a detailed look at how it polices its vast digital shelves from counterfeit crackdowns to scam detection and review authenticity. At the heart of the report is a four-pronged strategy, proactive controls, risk anticipation, enforcement against bad actors, and consumer protection. The scale is staggering. Since 2020, Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit has pursued over 32,000 bad actors globally through litigation and criminal referrals spanning 14 countries.
The clean-up drive accelerated in 2025, with the company identifying and disposing of more than 15 million counterfeit products worldwide. Legal action also led to the takedown of over 100 websites linked to fake reviews and scams, an ongoing battle in the age of algorithmic manipulation.
Behind the scenes, artificial intelligence and machine learning are doing the heavy lifting. Amazon says it monitors billions of daily interactions across listings, reviews, and seller activity to spot trouble before it surfaces. Its predictive systems can even flag potentially infringing listings for trending products before brands raise the alarm.
Tools like Omniscan, which verifies product safety information at scale, and SENTRIX, designed to detect and eliminate phishing websites, are part of this expanding tech arsenal. Together, they aim to reduce risk while keeping the platform usable for legitimate sellers.
That balance between protection and friction is a tightrope Amazon acknowledges. Rohan Oommen, Vice President of Worldwide Customer and Partner Trust, noted that while safeguards are critical, they must not stifle genuine businesses. Features like the Account Health Dashboard are meant to give sellers clearer visibility into compliance and performance.
Consumer-facing measures are also getting sharper. From direct safety alerts to recall notifications and refund guidance, Amazon is leaning into transparency, backed by partnerships with consumer organisations to raise awareness.
The report’s release follows the expansion of Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit into India, signalling a deeper push into one of its fastest-growing markets, with closer coordination planned between brands, sellers, and law enforcement.
In short, as online shopping grows more complex, Amazon is betting that trust built through data, enforcement, and a fair bit of algorithmic vigilance will be its most valuable product yet.
