Customers increasingly turned to quick commerce (qcom) and ecommerce (ecom) channels for Raksha Bandhan shopping this year.

On Flipkart Minutes, festival shopping grew threefold year-on-year (Y-o-Y), with Gen Z accounting for more than 40 per cent of shoppers.

Rakhis and fashion maang tikkas emerged as the fastest-growing categories, recording 20 times and four times growth, respectively.

Precious earrings, gold and silver coins and bars, and pooja thali sets also saw strong demand.

The qcom platform sold more than 2,000 rakhis per minute, while mobile handsets, true wireless earbuds, gold coins and bars, and smartwatches emerged among the top gifting categories. Ethnic wear also emerged as a popular last-minute purchase, with orders for men’s kurtas rising 87 per cent Y-o-Y.

Amazon Now, the qcom vertical of ecom giant Amazon, said that chocolate gifts were the fastest-growing category, up 2.5 times compared to business as usual, while Kaju Katli saw two times growth. 

“Our rakhi store brought together more than 500 unique rakhis, festival essentials and gifting options in one place, with the fastest rakhi order delivered in under five minutes. This year, we saw a clear shift towards premiumisation and personalisation in gifting — customers moved beyond regular options to more indulgent ones,” said Nishant Sardana, director, Amazon Now. 

Qcom-only platform Zepto also saw demand spread across metros as well as regional markets. On the platform, consumers purchased traditional Roli-Chawal and Rudraksha rakhis alongside evil-eye, silver- and gold-plated and multi-pack variants.

Chocolates, beauty products and nut boxes were among the popular gifting choices. Delhi alone accounted for one in every 10 rakhis sold on Zepto.

At Swiggy Instamart, rakhi orders grew nearly 300 per cent YoY. Chocolates and mithai orders were up by 30 per cent, compared to the week before rakhi. Gift hampers are up 85 per cent week-on-week, smartwatches nearly doubled at 99 per cent, and premium designer rakhis grew 130 per cent.

On the ecom side, Meesho saw orders grow 36 per cent Y-o-Y and gross merchandise value rise 38 per cent during the festival.

 For Meesho, nearly 73 per cent of rakhi orders came from non-metro markets while rachis with personalized names emerged as a notable trend, pointing to rising demand for customised gifting.