Holi 2024: The festival spurs sales surge for quick-commerce companies
Quick-commerce platforms saw a sharp sales spike during Holi, driven by high demand for essentials like white t-shirts, water guns, balloons, and colours. Many even reached their highest-ever orders per minute.
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Rapid-delivery platforms like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and similar services experienced a significant increase in sales during the Holi festival. Some even reached their highest-ever orders per minute (OPM) fueled by the high demand for white t-shirts, water guns, balloons, colours, and other essential festive items.
Albinder Dhindsa, CEO of Blinkit, the quick-commerce arm of Zomato, expressed gratitude as the company achieved its all-time high in orders, orders per minute (OPM), and various other performance metrics during the Holi festival. Dhindsa thanked customers for choosing Blinkit for their Holi needs and acknowledged the surge in demand for Holi essentials.
Before Holi, quick-commerce platforms witnessed a surge in order volumes on February 14 due to Valentine's Day, as reported by Moneycontrol previously. Prior to Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve (NYE) marked the highest sales day for several quick-commerce companies.
As the quick-commerce sector matures and more customers embrace the concept of instant delivery beyond groceries, it has become routine for companies to consistently achieve their highest-ever orders per minute (OPMs) on such occasions.
Aadit Palicha, co-founder and CEO of Zepto, shared in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that white t-shirt sales were spiking on Zepto during the Holi festival. He noted that people were beginning to recognize Zepto for its versatility beyond daily grocery needs. “White T-shirt sales (are) spiking on Zepto this Holi… People are starting to realise that Zepto serves a lot more use cases than daily grocery,” He wrote.
Palicha also expressed surprise regarding the unexpected surge in sales of detergents, juices, and mixers on the platform.
Companies such as Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart only share two graphs depicting an increase in orders over a comparative period, without disclosing specific numbers for orders or orders per minute (OPM).
Blinkit, the market leader with a market share of approximately 40 percent, disclosed in regulatory filings that it had fulfilled a total of 55.8 million orders, averaging about 6,20,000 orders per day in Q3FY24. CEO Dhindsa mentioned that numerous metrics were surpassed on March 25, indicating the possibility that Blinkit delivered more than 6,20,000 orders on that day.
Analysts at Bernstein, in a report published in January, indicated that similar figures could be expected for players like Swiggy (holding 37-39 percent market share) and Zepto (with a 20 percent market share).
Phani Kishan, Swiggy co-founder and leader of Swiggy Instamart, noted a significant rise in the volume of flower orders on the platform. On X, he mentioned that Swiggy Instamart had already recorded a fivefold increase in flower sales this Holi compared to the previous year. Kishan emphasised the platform's commitment to eco-friendly celebrations and spreading joy through vibrant blooms.
Similar to Blinkit, Swiggy also experienced its peak order volumes for this year. “Holi living up to its name… Orders per minute are higher than last morning. The gulaal and festivities are in full flow…we hit new highs!”
Swiggy Instamart reached a peak of 444 packets of gulaal (colour) being ordered per minute. Kishan further stated that in Bengaluru, one out of every seven orders and in Mumbai, one out of every five orders included a water gun.
Holi, widely celebrated in India, is known as the festival of colours, symbolising the victory of good over evil.
