The first numbers from this year's festive season are out, and they're worth a few minutes if you run a small brand online. Unicommerce, whose Uniware software processes orders for a lot of Indian sellers, compared the first week of festive sales this year (7 to 13 October 2026) with the same week last year (22 to 28 September 2025), across more than 33 million order items (The Federal; Free Press Journal).
The numbers
| Measure | Change, year on year |
|---|---|
| Order volume | +31% |
| Gross merchandise value | +17% |
| Average order value | −10% |
| Quick commerce orders | +85% |
| Brand website orders | +27% |
| Marketplace orders | +26% |
| FMCG orders | more than +190% |
| Beauty and personal care orders | more than +69% |
| Home decor orders | more than +22% |
| Share of orders from Tier 3 towns | 42% |
One caution before reading too much into it. This is one platform's data, and The Federal notes it shouldn't be read as a measure of the whole Indian market. It's still a large sample, and the direction is clear.
Three things it means for a small brand
1. Smaller baskets, more of them. Orders up 31%, value up only 17%. People are buying more often and spending less each time. If your cheapest product is ₹1,499, ask whether a ₹399 or ₹599 entry product (a trial pack, a single, a gift card) would get you the first order.
2. Your own website is growing too. Brand websites grew 27%, about the same as marketplaces. Marketplaces bring volume, but your site brings repeat customers whose numbers you keep, without a referral fee on every order. If your site is slow on a phone or the checkout breaks on UPI, festive traffic shows it fast. Our website cost guide for 2026 explains what a solid store should cost.
3. Smaller towns are a big share. Tier 3 towns placed 42% of orders, and Tier 2 and 3 together nearly two-thirds. That changes small things: Hindi or regional-language product pages, COD and clear delivery dates, and a WhatsApp number that someone answers. Our piece on Hindi website pages covers the first one.
Before Diwali and after
Diwali is on 8 November this year. You have about two weeks of peak buying left, then a return and exchange period, then a quieter stretch until the wedding season and year-end sales.
- Now: check stock on your top ten products, test checkout on a cheap Android phone, and make sure order confirmations go out on WhatsApp or SMS.
- The week of Diwali: answer "where is my order" messages the same day. Late delivery questions turn into cancellations and bad reviews.
- After: message every new customer once, a week after delivery, asking how it went. It's the cheapest repeat order you'll get all year.
Plan your WhatsApp messages
Order updates and reminders on WhatsApp cost money per message. Our free WhatsApp API cost calculator shows what a month of confirmations and follow-ups would cost at your order volume. If you'd like customer calls and WhatsApp questions answered through the festive rush, ask for a callback.