From gold rakhis to gadgets, festive shopping gets a digital makeover

BENGALURUAt 12 pm on Friday, Raksha Bandhan shoppers on Instamart were ordering 857 rakhis every minute. One Bengaluru customer spent Rs 10,995 on five rakhis featuring 24-karat gold coins, while a shopper in Gurugram put together a Rs 14,630 basket containing rakhis, skincare products, chocolates and soft toys.These were among the festive snapshots shared by online platforms this year, as Rakhi shopping moved beyond traditional threads and mithai. Data from Instamart, Meesho, Flipkart Minutes and Amazon Now showed shoppers also buying phones, smartwatches, gold and silver rakhis, kurtas and personalised gifts.Instamart said its Rakhi orders grew nearly 300% year-on-year between August 21 and 28, while orders for gift hampers rose 85% compared with the preceding week. Smartwatch orders nearly doubled, premium designer rakhis grew 130%, and orders for chocolates and mithai rose 30% each.Hyderabad led Rakhi orders on Instamart, followed by Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Pune. A Mumbai shopper added 118 rakhis to a single cart, while a customer in Hyderabad bought 109 different rakhis.Demand on marketplaces, meanwhile, extended well beyond the metros. Meesho said orders for Rakhi products rose 36% in the past month compared with the corresponding period last year, while their gross merchandise value—the total value of goods ordered—grew 38%.Non-metro markets accounted for 73% of Meesho’s Rakhi orders, with tier-3 and tier-4 locations recording the fastest growth. Dadri in Uttar Pradesh led with 105% growth, followed by Nabarangapur, Kasganj, Dhamtari and Nainpur.About 58% of Meesho’s Rakhi orders were prepaid, while the number of sellers offering Rakhi products rose 72% from a year earlier. Bracelet-style Rakhi sets bundled with greeting cards were the top-selling products, while personalised name rakhis also saw strong demand.Flipkart Minutes said total orders across its platform tripled in August compared with the same month last year, although the figure covers all orders and is not limited to Rakhi purchases. Shoppers aged 15-24 accounted for about 40% of orders during the month.Flipkart said its Rakhi Store sold more than 2,000 rakhis a minute, without specifying whether this was a peak or average run rate. Shopping was highest between 4 pm and 10 pm. Phones, wireless earbuds, smartwatches and gold coins were among the leading gift categories, while orders for men’s kurtas rose 87% from a year earlier.Amazon Now stocked more than 500 varieties of rakhis, with its fastest Rakhi order delivered in under five minutes. Orders for chocolate gifts rose 2.5 times compared with normal-day levels, while demand for kaju katli doubled. The platform also offered an NFC-enabled rakhi that allowed buyers to attach photographs, videos and personal messages.The companies used different periods and comparison bases, making their figures not directly comparable. Taken together, however, the data point to Rakhi becoming a broader online shopping occasion. Marketplaces captured more planned purchases, including from smaller towns, while quick-commerce platforms catered largely to urban shoppers seeking speed, wider choice and last-minute gifting.Get the latest Business News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.