Diwali Shopping in 10 Minutes: How Quick Commerce Changed Festive Buying Habits in India

Indian households now finish a big share of their Diwali shopping in minutes, not weeks, by ordering sweets, diyas, flowers, gifts and puja items from quick-commerce apps like Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart.

The shift is sharpest in the final days before the festival, when planned marketplace orders are already done and the “we forgot something” orders begin.

During Diwali 2025, quick-commerce platforms recorded a 120% surge in order volumes according to Unicommerce, and Zepto alone crossed 2 million orders a day, peaking at about 2.37 million on 19 October 2025.

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Key Takeaways

• Speed drives quick commerce, not price.
• Diwali 2026 is on 8 November. Dhanteras on 6 November and Chhoti Diwali on 7 November.
• The week before Diwali is the peak window for quick-commerce orders.
• Quick-commerce festive order volumes jumped 120% in 2025, versus ~23% growth for the wider online festive market.
• Quick commerce’s share of online festive sales is expected to reach ~16% in 2026, up from 12% in 2025.
• Swiggy Instamart saw a 5x spike in gold and silver coin sales just before Dhanteras puja Muhurat in 2025.
• UPI processed a record 24.51 billion transactions in August 2026, making one-tap payment the norm.
• Fast checkout encourages impulse buys; stick to a short list and a budget.

Why Quick Commerce Wins the “Forgotten Item” Moment

Quick commerce gets a boost during Diwali because it solves that last-minute panic, not just because it’s always the cheapest. Come festival time, the mindset shifts, from “see what else I can find” to “just grab it now while I can”. That is especially true in the evenings when you’ve got guests on the way and the shops you’d normally pop to are either slammed or are about to shut.

The numbers tell a pretty striking story. We mapped out Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart and found roughly 4,000 ‘dark stores’ spread across 408 Indian cities back in March 2026.

A dark store is a small warehouse tucked away in a local neighbourhood that keeps a few thousand snazzy products on the shelves and delivers to customers within a few klicks of the place. So you can get a box of laddus, a pack of tealights, or a thali set delivered to your doorstep in 10 to 20 minutes.

Think of it like the modern version of that corner shop that always has what you need, never runs out of anything and never closes down early.

The Two-Speed Diwali Calendar

The way people shop for Diwali has basically become a two-speed affair. Early on, you get to window-shop and pick up the big-ticket items on those big marketplace sales in early October.

But then when the stress really starts to build – with the clock ticking down and all – that is when the small-ticket, last-minute buying on quick-commerce apps really starts to take off. Diwali this year rolls in a bit late as 2026 is an Adhik Maas year.

Marketplace sale dates can shift. So check the apps for current timings. Quick-commerce platforms do not run one big sale day. Their festive demand builds steadily through October and peaks in the last week.

What Indians Actually Buy in 10 Minutes

Festive quick-commerce baskets are smaller but more frequent, and they lean toward things you consume, gift or use in rituals. The most common categories include:

• Mithai, dry fruits and snack boxes
• Fresh flowers, diyas, candles and incense
• Rangoli colours, torans and fairy lights
• Gift hampers and chocolates
• Gold and silver coins around Dhanteras

Quick commerce has also stretched beyond groceries. Instamart’s first-ever sale in 2025 saw triple-digit growth in home décor and wellness products.

Diwali 2025 by the Numbers

Notice the gap between 120% that has been plugging away quietly , and 23%. Because quick commerce is growing from a smaller base, its percentage jumps can look downright alarming. But the underlying habit is real and only getting stronger.

The Infrastructure Behind the 10-Minute Promise

Lurking behind every single one of those 10-minute orders are four key things that all have to fall into place:

• dense networks of dark store locations
• near real-time inventory updates
• local goodies
• a big team of delivery drivers that can get everything to you on time

Platforms do a great job of stocking all the regional favourites. So that no matter if you live in Bengal or Telangana you can find festival items that actually match your own traditions.

Growth is also moving at a pretty rapid pace. Estimates suggest India is on track to spend close to ₹11,000 crore on quick commerce in just one month by early 2026.

Blinkit is widely thought to be holding down about half of the market, with Instamart and Zepto sharing the rest.

Payments: Why Checkout Takes Seconds

UPI is the unsung hero of the 10-minute festival shopping experience, and if you take a look at the stats from 2026, you will see why.

In August 2026, UPI processed a record 24.51 billion transactions worth a stunning ₹29.82 lakh crore, up a 22 % in volume compared to the year before.

With saved addresses, one tap payments and those instant bank offers, you can pay for even a small festive order in a matter of seconds.

If you want to buy something bigger like an appliance, well most people are still going to the big marketplaces and opting for EMI.

The 2026 Outlook

Quick commerce is set to account for around 16% of online festive sales in 2026, up from 12 % in 2025. Looking at the wider online festive market, it says that it is expected to grow by about 29 % to a rough total of ₹1.55 lakh crore. However, grocery sales are thought to be rising at a rate of about 41% thanks to quick commerce.

And to top it all off, Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart are all pushing deeper into those smaller towns in Tier 2 and Tier 3 areas. So this shopping habit is spreading beyond just the big cities.

The Flip Side: Impulse Buying

When shopping is that fast and payment is just a single tap away , well it can be a slippery slope. the risk is that speed just makes it that much easier to overspend and before you know it you have racked up a bigger bill than you had in mind.

A few simple tricks help avoid that:

• Take just a minute or two to make a quick Diwali shopping checklist before opening up any app.
• Set a budget for gifts in advance.
• Make sure you check the pack size and unit price , not just the discount.
• Double check those add-ons that were automatically added to your cart.

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A Smart 10-Minute Diwali Checklist

• Puja: diyas, wicks, ghee or oil, incense, flowers, kumkum, rangoli colours
• Sweets and snacks: laddoos, kaju katli, dry fruits, namkeen
• Décor: torans, fairy lights, candles, small showpieces
• Gifting: hampers, dry-fruit boxes, chocolates, greeting cards
• Last-minute fixes: disposable plates and glasses, gift wrap, extra batteries

Conclusion

Quick commerce is not going to replace the joy of Diwali shopping. It is more about making it less stressful and a whole lot easier. Big purchases are still best planned and bought from a marketplace.

But now you can just pop into an app and find that forgotten diya, the surprise guest and the late-evening puja item in no time.

And with Diwali falling on the 8th November 2026 and quick commerce only set to take up an even bigger share of festive spending, the smartest thing to do is simple.

Plan the big purchases early, keep a checklist for the smaller ones and just let the apps handle the rest.