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Quick-commerce platforms have moved beyond emergency grocery runs. Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart now offer dedicated Diwali storefronts for sweets, hampers, décor and premium bundles.
As Diwali buying is urgent and sentimental, 10-minute delivery turns last‑minute gifting into a sustained revenue opportunity.
Diwali 2026 is on November 8 (main festivities Nov 6 to Nov10). This gives the brands a clear, high‑intent window to plan.
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Key Takeaways
- Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart now have festive/gifting sections.
- Diwali 2025 festival trade hit ₹6.05 lakh crore; gifts, jewellery and electronics rose fastest.
- Quick commerce – ~33M monthly users, ~₹11,000 crore GMV/month (early 2026).
- Blinkit: dry fruits, hampers, décor.
- Zepto – electronics, beauty, fashion, jewellery, occasion gifting.
- Instamart: “Giftables” – chocolates, cakes, flowers, electronics, toys.
- Festive SKUs boost basket value and often stay after the season.
- Brands need strong listings, stocked inventory, and city-level planning.
Why Quick Commerce is Moving Beyond Groceries
1: What is the primary goal of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?
Diwali changes shopping behaviour in a way few other periods do. Customers who normally order milk, eggs and vegetables suddenly start searching for sweets, dry fruits, gift hampers, home décor and last-minute presents.
This is a rare chance for platforms built on low-margin grocery orders to sell higher-value items to an audience already primed to spend.
Reports point that quick commerce sustained well over 100% growth against business-as-usual levels during the festive stretch, materially ahead of traditional e-commerce. This is an interesting combination with a high-margin occasion and a channel already outpacing the rest of retail. It explains why Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart are all leaning into gifting rather than treating Diwali as a routine sales bump.
There is also a discovery edge. A well-merchandised festive bundle often outperforms a standard grocery SKU because the intent is stronger and the decision is impulse-led. Someone remembers a gift is needed and wants it delivered before evening.
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Explore CourseWhat Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart are Actually Doing
Blinkit
This platform has built a standing “Festive Gifting” storefront that runs across Diwali, Rakhi and other occasions, stocked with dry fruit gift packs, diffuser and home-décor gift sets, and traditional items like diyas and rangoli kits.
All of them are delivered via the same dark-store network that handles its grocery volumes. Blinkit is also Eternal’s (formerly Zomato) largest business by order value as of mid-2025. This gives it the scale to support seasonal category pushes without new infrastructure.
Zepto
This one has expanded well past groceries into electronics, fashion, beauty, home and kitchen, jewellery, and fitness. Along with these, there is a standing “Gifting” vertical covering birthdays, anniversaries, festive specials and corporate gifting.
That breadth means a Zepto shopper can move from ordering vegetables to buying a Diwali hamper and festive lighting in the same app session. This positions it as a one-stop occasion store, not just a grocery run.
Swiggy Instamart
This platform took a slightly different route. Rather than only adding festive SKUs to its existing catalogue, Swiggy launched Giftables. It is a curated-gifting category spanning chocolates, cakes, flowers, electronics, jewellery and toys, timed ahead of the year-end festive season and rolled out city by city starting with Bengaluru.
Instamart has also run occasion-specific tie-ups such as a Raksha Bandhan collaboration with Kalyan Jewellers offering silver rakhis with 10-minute delivery. This reflects a broader pattern of quick commerce partnering with category specialists for occasion-led, non-grocery items.
Category Expansion Snapshot
| Category | What it Includes | Why it Matters for Diwali | Seen on |
| Sweets & mithai | Traditional sweets, dry fruits, festive boxes | High festive intent, strong gifting use case | Blinkit, Zepto, Instamart |
| Gifting hampers | Curated hampers, gift cards, mixed bundles | Saves time for last-minute buyers | Zepto, Instamart |
| Festive décor | Diyas, rangoli kits, lights, candles | Converts celebration intent into impulse orders | Blinkit, Zepto |
| Premium FMCG | Chocolates, cookies, snacks, beauty sets | Raises basket size and perceived value | Zepto, Instamart |
| Jewellery & gold | Silver/gold gift items, occasion jewellery | Taps India’s traditional Diwali gold-buying habit | Zepto, Instamart |
| Utility gifting | Electronics, accessories, home items | Works for practical, corporate and adult gifting | Zepto, Blinkit, Instamart |
These categories cluster around one buying moment. A shopper ordering sweets often adds dry fruits or décor in the same cart, lifting basket value without a separate purchase journey. That is the core commercial logic behind the expansion.
India’s Festive Retail Context (2025 Data)
| Metric | Figure | Source |
| Total Diwali 2025 trade (goods + services) | ₹6.05 lakh crore | CAIT |
| Gifts’ share of festive trade | 7% | CAIT |
| Gold & jewellery’s share of festive trade | 10% | CAIT |
| Quick commerce monthly transacting users | ~33 million, 150+ cities | Redseer |
| Quick commerce GMV (early 2026, monthly) | ~₹11,000 crore, ~100% YoY growth | Redseer |
Why this Strategy Works
The approach works because it matches live search intent. Shoppers look for “Diwali gift hampers,” “dry fruits online” and “last-minute gifts near me”. So, platforms with dedicated festive pages capture that traffic instead of losing it elsewhere.
There is also an operational edge. Since delivery infrastructure already exists, adding a festive category costs far less than launching a new vertical.
This is exactly why platforms use Diwali as a low-risk window to trial premium, non-grocery lines that can stay in the catalogue if they perform well.
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What this Means for Brands
Brands in sweets, gifting, décor or premium FMCG should treat Diwali as a conversion-focused campaign, and not a branding exercise. What works best is a simple, gift-ready product:
- clear packaging
- a title using terms like “Diwali gift pack”
- pricing suited to impulse buying
Because quick commerce runs on hyperlocal inventory, city-level stock planning matters more here than on traditional e-commerce.
A hamper that sells out in one city’s dark stores can’t be redirected from another warehouse. Brands that plan inventory city by city tend to capture more of the festive spike.
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Explore CourseConclusion
Diwali has quietly become the moment quick commerce stops being a grocery-only channel and starts competing with marketplaces and specialty gifting stores.
Blinkit’s festive storefront, Zepto’s expansion into jewellery and occasion-based gifting, and Instamart’s Giftables launch all point to the same conclusion. 10-minute delivery is now expected to handle celebration, not just consumption.
India’s festive trade is at record levels and quick commerce is outgrowing every other retail format. This expansion looks less like a seasonal experiment and more like where these platforms are permanently headed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart adding gifting categories before Diwali?
They are capturing high-intent festive demand and raising average order value by selling higher-margin, non-grocery items alongside routine essentials. Diwali gives them a defined window where shoppers are already primed to spend on gifts, sweets and décor.
Which festive categories are growing fastest on quick commerce?
Sweets, dry fruit hampers, gifting bundles, festive décor, jewellery and premium FMCG are the most visible additions across all three platforms. Utility gifting like electronics and accessories is also expanding quickly.
What is Blinkit's approach to Diwali gifting?
Blinkit runs a dedicated “Festive Gifting” storefront stocked with dry fruit gift packs, décor items and diffuser sets, delivered through its existing dark-store network. It pairs this with its broader push toward higher-margin, non-grocery categories.
How has Zepto expanded beyond groceries?
Zepto’s app now includes electronics, fashion, beauty, home and kitchen, jewellery, fitness and a dedicated gifting vertical covering birthdays, anniversaries, festivals and corporate occasions. This lets shoppers complete an entire festive cart in one app.
What is Instamart's Giftables feature?
Giftables is Swiggy Instamart’s curated gifting category covering chocolates, cakes, flowers, electronics, jewellery and toys, launched ahead of the year-end festive season. It started in Bengaluru before expanding to other metro cities.
Why does Diwali specifically favour quick commerce over traditional e-commerce?
Diwali combines urgency, gifting and last-minute decision-making. These are exactly the conditions 10-minute delivery is built for. Traditional e-commerce still wins on planned, bulk festive shopping, but quick commerce captures the spontaneous, need-it-now moments.
What should brands do to succeed on these platforms during Diwali?
Create gift-ready SKUs with clear packaging, use festive search terms in product titles, and plan inventory city by city rather than nationally. Impulse-friendly pricing and strong in-app visibility matter more here than on traditional marketplaces.
Are these festive categories only temporary, or do they stay year-round?
Some categories, particularly premium and non-grocery lines like jewellery and electronics, often stay in the catalogue after the festival if they perform well. Platforms use Diwali as a low-risk window to test whether a category deserves a permanent place.
Which platform has the widest non-grocery category range?
Zepto currently shows the broadest expansion, spanning electronics, fashion, beauty, jewellery, fitness and occasion-based gifting alongside groceries. Blinkit and Instamart are also expanding but currently lean more heavily into festive-specific hampers and curated gifting.
What is the biggest advantage quick commerce has over specialty gifting stores this Diwali?
Speed and existing infrastructure. The platforms don’t need a new supply chain to add festive categories, since dark stores and delivery fleets already exist. This lets them scale gifting assortments fast, without the lead time a dedicated gifting business would need.
