Rakhi rush tests qcom companies

Quick commerce (qcom) platforms set new Raksha Bandhan sales records this year as shoppers increasingly turned to doorstep delivery for festival essentials—from rakhis to sweets.

- UDISHA SRIVASTAV

But the demand surge also meant longer delivery times, out-of-stock items, and store unavailability across Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, Zepto, and others.

Swiggy Instamart, which partnered with Kalyan Jewellers to offer ₹2,100 voucher cards on orders above ₹499, saw vouchers run out at some locations.

In some cases, the benefit was not automatically applied to eligible carts, prompting Instamart to later add a condition that a rakhi be included in the order.

Agam Gupta, a Noida-based user, said even after placing a high-value order worth ₹1,950, the voucher was not automatically added to his cart.

"It was surprising to see that the voucher was not included even after trying several times and adding items in different permutations and combinations. So, I planned to place the order the next day. This time, I read on the application that to get the voucher, one must now add a rakhi. I did it and got the voucher at Gurugram, where my sister lives, but not in my original Noida location. In fact, a few times the store was only unavailable," he said.