Festive e-commerce sales hit Rs 24,000 crore in first two days

MUMBAI: India’s festive shopping carts are filling up fast, with shoppers putting nearly Rs 24,000 crore on the digital checkout counter in just two days. E-commerce platforms clocked an estimated Rs 24,000 crore in gross merchandise value (GMV) during the opening phase of festive sales, with mobile phones taking the biggest slice of the spending pie, according to Redseer Strategy Consultants, PTI reported.

Consumers placed an estimated 8 crore to 9 crore orders across platforms including Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho and Ajio, while around 6 crore to 6.5 crore shoppers made purchases. Buyers from Tier 2 cities and rural areas accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total, underlining how festive spending is reaching well beyond the country’s biggest urban markets.

Nikhil Dalal, associate partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants, told PTI that shoppers were spreading their festive budgets across a wider range of products. Mobiles remained the biggest category by value, but fashion, electronics and appliances also contributed to the early sales rush.

The opening two days generated around six times the GMV of a typical business-as-usual day. Quick commerce also joined the festive sprint, with services operated by platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart recording GMV four to five times their respective daily averages.

Mobile phones accounted for an estimated 38 to 40 per cent of sales value, translating into around Rs 9,100 crore to Rs 9,600 crore. Consumer electronics contributed 25 to 27 per cent, or Rs 6,000 crore to Rs 6,500 crore, while fashion accounted for 15 to 18 per cent, worth approximately Rs 3,630 crore to Rs 4,350 crore.

Large appliances and electronics grew faster than the overall market, Redseer said. Televisions, refrigerators and air conditioners made up more than two-thirds of large-appliance sales. Among televisions, 55-inch models from TCL, LG, Samsung and Xiaomi accounted for over 75 per cent of the top-selling television stock-keeping units (SKUs).

Laptops and Internet of Things (IoT) devices also supported electronics demand. Redseer said the category grew by more than 20 per cent in the first half of 2026, partly as consumers brought purchases forward amid expectations of higher prices in the second half.

Fashion, meanwhile, dressed up the numbers with estimated GMV growth of 22 to 25 per cent year-on-year during the first two days. Sales reached three to five times the category’s usual daily level, with value fashion attracting shoppers from smaller towns looking for festive clothing at accessible prices.

The opening phase also brought fresh faces to online shopping. Gen Z consumers accounted for around one-third of shoppers on the first day, while the number of first-time online shoppers during the first two days was twice that of the corresponding period last year, according to Redseer.

The initial sales window attracted more than one-third of the 15 crore to 16 crore unique shoppers who typically transact across e-commerce platforms during a business-as-usual month.

Dalal said Redseer expects around 100 million shoppers to participate across the entire 11-day first phase of festive sales, suggesting that the opening numbers may be only the beginning of the season’s online spending story.

The early momentum was also reflected in platform-level activity. Amazon and Flipkart reported strong starts to their festive sales events, with Amazon recording a 100 per cent rise in orders and Flipkart registering 6.3 million concurrent users in a minute.

With mobiles leading by value, fashion gaining ground and shoppers from smaller towns contributing a substantial share of demand, the opening two days point to a broad-based festive shopping season. The next test will be whether platforms can sustain the early surge as more shoppers enter the market over the remaining sales period.