D2C Brands Double Down on Festive Strategies Across Quick Commerce, E-Commerce Giants

As online commerce platforms kick started festive season sales in India, D2C brands have fine-tuned their strategies to cater to evolving consumer expectations as buyers attention spit between impulse-drive quick commerce and planned e-commerce purchases. Several brands like Noise, IGP.com, and others have tailored their product portfolios, and marketing spend to capture both markets effectively.

Smart wearable brand Noise has opted for omnichannel approach where each platform plays a distinct role. “We maintain price parity across channels, giving consumers the freedom to choose where to shop without being nudged towards one channel over another,” said Amit Khatri, cofounder of Noise.

Its core focus remains on tier 2 and 3 cities, with enhanced inventory planning and distribution to meet growing festive demand. Similarly, online gifting brand IGP.com has introduced innovations such as customised cakes and personalised gifts to be delivered in 30 minutes for spontaneous celebrations.

However, IGP founder Tarun Joshi believes that e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart will continue to carry a wider festive portfolio of hampers, gourmet offerings, and premium curation for planned purchases. IGP expects 15-20% of festive sales to come from quick commerce, while e-commerce will continue to account for the majority share 80% driven by planned gifting and hampers.

“Our data shows that Rakhi orders begin almost 30 days in advance, whereas youth-focussed occasions like Valentine’s Day see a surge in last-minute orders. So, we have also designed our marketing strategies to account for these cultural nuances,” he said, while highlighting that timing and geography are equally critical in determining the distribution channel.

“Quick commerce will be metro-first, where adoption of faster delivery formats is strongest and demand density supports dark-store models. Whereas, for e-commerce, our biggest growth story is from tier 2 and 3 cities, where orders have grown threefold in the last couple of years,” he added.

Joshi further stated that technology and data analytics play a central role in differentiating offerings across channels. In quick commerce, proprietary compact machines designed in-house now make instant, in-store personalisation possible, something that’s never been done before in India.

For e-commerce, the role of technology shifts toward forecasting demand for hampers and curated gifts ahead of key festivals, and mapping consumer behaviour so every shopper’s journey feels more relevant and valued/personalised, Joshi stated.

On the other hand, lighting and consumer dubrables brand Surya Roshni Limited relies on traditional retail and e-commerce platforms, ensuring key SKUs are well-stocked for both direct consumers and channel partners to meet festival demand efficiently.

For a consumer durables brand, CEO Vasumitra Pandey says that quick commerce is still emerging. The company expects to generate around ₹6-8 crore through e-commerce channels during this festive season. However, he also believes that there is potential interest in exploring quick commerce channels in the future as part of a broader omnichannel strategy aligned with the festival and business.

While Pandey is still exploring quick commerce for consumer durables, Alok Chawla, founder of Kiko Live point out that the economies of fast delivery favour smaller baskets. The average basket size across quick commerce platforms hovers around ₹600, which is way lower than the size on traditional ecommerce.

And the largest category on traditional ecommerce is mobile phones and electronics, which have a very high average value per unit. If a buyer is looking for a mobile phone priced at ₹20,000 on a quick commerce platform with the 15-minute delivery versus ₹19,000 on say an Amazon with next day delivery, most buyers will happily wait a day to save the ₹1000.

Similarly, the current online shopping trend shows a vice-a-versa trend. A lot of low-value purchases have moved from traditional ecommerce to quick commerce, which is driven by deep discounting and free deliveries.

Once the deep discounting wears off and high delivery charges come to play, buying online from your nearby retailer will be more than 20% cheaper for small carts, especially as they have their own delivery boys which cost them nothing incremental in delivery costs.

Amazon and Flipkart have kicked off their annual festive sales: The Great Indian Festival and Big Billion Days (BBD), respectively. From September 23, shoppers can avail discounts on a variety of popular products, ranging from the latest iPhone 16 to smart TVs and home appliances.

Swiggy Instamart has also started its 10-day festive season sale called 'Quick India Movement 2025'. The platform is featuring brands like Apple, OnePlus, JBL, Marshall, L’Oréal Paris, D’Decor, Barbie, LEGO, Dove, among others.