Online festive season gets small town, q-comm boost

Surge in appetite for high-value purchases seen

- AYANTI BERA & ANEES HUSSAIN

FESTIVE SEASON SHOPPING on e-commerce platforms is on a high note so far with order volumes growing 24% year-on-year and gross merchandise value (GMV) up 23%, according to data from Unicommerce.

The surge was driven by strong demand from smallertowns, booming quick commerce orders and rising appetite for high-value purchases across categories from gold to furniture.

Marketplaces continued to dominate overall sales, contributing 38% of total purchases but growing only 8% in terms of ordervolume this year. Regionally, tier II cities recorded the strongest growth at 28%, followed by metros at 24% and tier-III towns at 23%.