Quick Comm vs E-Comm Battle for Shoppers' Cart: Who’s Leading the Festive Frenzy This Season?

A festive season sale battle has begun between e-commerce and quick commerce platforms, with each one trying to lure customers. Platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Swiggy Instamart, and others are muscling into the annual festive season with multiple offers and deep discounts.

The e-commerce giants – Amazon and Flipkart - will kick off their festive sales (Great Indian Festival and Big Billion Days) on September 23, while Meesho is starting early with its “Mega Blockbuster Sale” from September 19 to capture shoppers before the bigger platforms launch their discounts. Online fashion retailer Myntra is also launching its “Big Fashion Festival” on September 20.

On the other hand, Swiggy Instamart has also announced its 10-day festive season sale called ‘Quick India Movement’, which will take place from September 19 to 28. The sale will go live on both Swiggy and Instamart apps. Some quick commerce platforms are even offering up to 70% discounts on select categories, like ethnic apparel, dry fruit, and chocolate gift boxes, etc.

This shows that the new entrants like Blinkit, Zepto, Flipkart Minutes, BBNow, JioMart, and Amazon Now are creating a crowded and competitive landscape in the market ahead of festive season.

Festive Showdown: Quick Comm vs E-comm

This festive season, the shopping landscape looks vastly different from just a few years ago. Consumer are not confined to crowded local markets now, they have an entire universe of choices at their fingertips. Online shoppers do not even have to rely only on Amazon-Flipkart duo as they have options like Instamart, Blinkit too.

The e-commerce majors have planned to give paid subscribers early access: Amazon Prime members and Flipkart Plus and Black members will be able to shop 24 hours before the public launch, starting 22. Preview banners and early-bird sections on the apps already show category-wide offers spanning electronics, appliances, fashion, home, and groceries.

During this period, popular models like Samsung Galaxy S25, Google Pixel 10, and Samsung Galaxy S25, Google Pixel 10, and Samsung S24 are expected to witness huge price cuts. There are even rumours that iPhone 16 may reach its lowest price in India, at a time when the iPhone 17 series has recently launched.

Meesho’s flagship sale event also aims to deliver a wide selection and accessibility to households in India. Alongside this, a wide range of brands on Meesho Mall are introducing festive collections across fashion, beauty, and home essentials, offering customers a broader choice this season.

In addition, Myntra Insider (its free loyalty program) will get early access to the sale on September 19. The sale will include as OMG Deals, Grab or Gone, Deal O’ Click, Prime Time Deals, and Brand Mania. These offers will include categories like women’s ethnic and western wear, men’s casual wear, sports footwear, accessories, beauty and personal care, and home and living.

Instamart, on the other hand, has stated that it will offer discounts in the range of 50-90% during the 10-day sale on over 50,000 products to be delivered in just 10 minutes. These festive offers will span categories such as electronics, kitchen and dining, beauty and personal care, toys, and more. Shoppers can also avail deals on the latest Apple flagship iPhone 17, along with discounts on products from brands like OnePlus, Oppo, boat, Philips, JBL, Nestasia, etc.

With both quick commerce and e-commerce pulling out all the stops, the festive season has turned into a high-stakes race. Consumers now face a choice between the speed and convenience of 10-minute deliveries and variety of traditional e-commerce.

Speed vs Scale: Who Will Win?

Currently, quick commerce MTU (monthly transacting base) has already crossed 30 million. A global consultancy firm Redseer expects it to stabilise around 50-60 million in the next five years. Kushal Bhatnagar, associate partner at Redseer stated that GenZ and millenials in metro cities will continue to form the core MTU base.

“The choice of quick commerce over traditional e-commerce is use-case dependent. For example, most consumers in the above cohorts would rely on QC for their weekly groceries or personal care or gifting use-cases, but prefer traditional e-commerce when buying fashion or large ticket items,” he told Outlook Business.

To be specific, he believes that small-ticket categories with a confined SKU range are expected to witness greater QC play. This includes grocery, beauty & personal care, and electronics accessories. Groceries drove 70-75% of quick-commerce GMV, BPC accounted for another 12% in the first six months of 2025, while rest was a build-up across home & furniture, electronics accessories etc.

As per Redseer’s estimates, quick commerce will contribute 10% of e-commerce festive GMV (gross merchandise value) this year as compared to 5% last year. And the faster growth is coming from non-metro cities, but metros still contribute 75-80% of quick commerce GMV.

Even in its recent report, Redseer asserted that e-comemrce will lead the charge this festive season as it is expected to grow 20-25% (year-on-year), generating over over ₹1.15 lakh crore GMV. This shows nearly 2x growth as compared to the last year’s festive season.

While e-commerce dominates in terms of overall value, quick commerce tells a different story: average order values are lower at ₹450–500, but frequency is higher, with users placing 5–6 orders per month compared to 3–4 for traditional e-commerce with average order value of ₹800-850.

There have been assumptions that people use more quick commerce due to delivery in 10-15 minutes. However, in reality, Bhatnagar said adoption is shaped by a more layered of behaviours – habit formation, basket evolution, and category drivers.

Hence, it would be interesting to see the extent to which consumers continue to rely on quick commerce for routine purchases versus impulse buys during this festive season, and how it impacts the broader e-commerce landscape.