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December 29, 2025
Yash Bhatia, Impact Magazine
29 December 2025
App, Tap, Pay and Zoom it’s delivered – that is Quick commerce for you. And in India, the narrative has so far been defined by speed, scale, high SKU counts, and the dominance of dark stores. Last week, however, Instamart nudged that model by opening an experiential store in Gurugram, allowing consumers to see and feel select products available on the platform.
The Bengaluru-based company has positioned the outlet not as a conventional retail store, but as a compact experiential format with a sharply curated assortment of around 100–200 SKUs, compared to the 15,000–20,000 SKUs typically housed in a dark store. Spanning roughly 400 sq. ft., the space is about one-tenth the size of a standard 4,000 sq. ft. dark store.
Under this model, sales proceeds are paid directly to sellers. This differs from Instamart’s regular arrangement, where payments are routed through the platform and later settled with sellers after deducting the platform’s share. IMPACT reached out to Instamart for further details, but the company declined to comment.
Sources close to the development say that Instamart has enabled sellers to open branded experiential stores in and around residential societies as part of a targeted consumer experiment. These are not conventional retail outlets, but compact experiential formats with a highly curated SKU assortment, focused on categories where consumers prefer to assess the products first-hand before purchasing, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, pulses, new product launches, and selected D2C brands. The initiative is largely centred on fresh categories and allows sellers to experiment with Instamart’s branding and service ecosystem.
Devangshu Dutta, Founder, Third Eyesight, a retail consultancy firm, says that physical presence plays a vital role in anchoring trust, particularly in premium products, groceries, and fresh produce. “Experiencing a product or brand physically can significantly enhance perceived value and help create stickiness. For this reason, offline stores continue to remain integral to the consumer products sector,” he explains.
Built on the promise of speed and convenience, quick commerce brands have come under growing scrutiny for quality and hygiene lapses at dark stores. Over the past year, several reports have flagged issues ranging from poor storage conditions and compromised freshness to the sale of expired or damaged products, particularly in food and grocery categories.
In some instances, regulatory inspections have led to licence suspensions after authorities identified hygiene violations at fulfilment centres. “Trust is what builds loyalty, and the shift is clearly moving from minutes to confidence,” says Shankar Shinde, Co-Founder, Aisles and Shelves, a behaviour-led brand consultancy in India. Shinde adds that the emergence of offline formats such as Instamart’s physical store aligns with this transition, particularly in grocery and fresh categories where consumers place a high premium on quality and consistency. “Physical touchpoints help reduce consumer anxiety, especially in a market like India, where shoppers still prefer hand-picked fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables,” he explains.
Against this backdrop, the opening of experiential centres could emerge as one way for quick commerce players to rebuild consumer trust by allowing shoppers to experience products in person before purchasing. IMPACT also reached out to Blinkit and Zepto for their views, but both declined to comment.
Kushal Bhatnagar, Associate Partner, Redseer Strategy Consultants, believes the move is aimed at unlocking incremental growth by tapping into offline-first consumers who are not yet active on quick commerce, while also catering to the offline purchase missions of existing quick commerce users. He notes that quick commerce currently reaches only about 75–80 million annual transacting users as of CY2025, even as over 90% of India’s grocery consumption continues to take place offline.
Beyond expanding reach, Bhatnagar sees offline formats as a way to address deeper trust barriers within the category. He adds that such formats can help deepen consumer confidence, particularly in categories where apprehensions around quality and freshness persist in quick commerce deliveries, concerns that are partly alleviated when consumers can experience products first-hand. Additionally, he points out that this approach benefits brands, especially emerging ones that are largely confined to quick commerce or a limited set of platforms, by giving them greater physical retail visibility without requiring heavy investment in traditional distribution networks.
Viewed through a financial lens, the move also carries implications for how quick commerce platforms justify value. Saurabh Parmar, fractional CMO, believes the initiative signals a shift from promise to performance, with a stronger emphasis on optimisation and a more realistic assessment of long-term value creation. He notes that while quick commerce has expanded into Tier 2 markets and seen growth in user numbers, these metrics alone still fall short of fully justifying current valuations. In this context, an offline presence becomes another lever to strengthen the overall business case.
At the same time, Parmar cautions that offline formats cannot replace the core proposition of quick commerce. He adds that experiential centres enhance brand credibility and make quick commerce feel closer to conventional retail, with the potential to eventually extend into other facets of e-commerce. However, he emphasises that quick commerce must continue to remain the frontline, as the sector’s valuations are fundamentally anchored in its speed-led proposition.
Retail experts, meanwhile, view physical touchpoints as a long-standing mechanism for building trust rather than a structural shift.
Dutta adds that such formats complement existing digital trust mechanisms such as delivery consistency, speed, ratings, and reviews by making brands feel tangible and accountable rather than abstract.
Bhatnagar notes that quick commerce currently has an average monthly transacting user base of around 40 million as of CY2025, leaving significant headroom for growth when compared to India’s overall e-commerce base of nearly 300 million active transacting users.
Beyond expanding the user base, he adds that experiential stores can also support wallet-share expansion across categories, which remains a key growth lever for the sector. “Non-grocery segments such as beauty and personal care, electronics, and fashion currently contribute about 25% of quick commerce GMV (Gross Merchandise Value), a share that is expected to rise further. Within groceries as well, platforms can drive incremental growth by building greater depth in fresh produce and staples,” Bhatnagar highlights.
From an operational perspective, however, the offline format is viewed more as a supporting layer than a core growth engine. Dutta sees Instamart’s offline presence as an experimental add-on rather than a replacement for its delivery-led model. The operating processes and economics differ significantly from those of quick commerce delivery, positioning physical formats as a complement to the speed proposition rather than an alternative. If the model proves viable and is backed by sufficient resources, it could eventually lead to a parallel scale-up of dark stores and experiential formats across different catchments.
For now, Instamart’s offline foray remains a tightly scoped experiment rather than a strategic pivot. Its significance lies less in square footage and more in what it signals about the evolving priorities of quick commerce. As the category matures, speed alone may no longer be sufficient to secure trust, loyalty, or long-term value. Experiential touchpoints, if deployed selectively, could help platforms bridge the gap between digital convenience and physical reassurance, particularly in categories where quality perception continues to remain fragile.
(Published in IMPACT)
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December 15, 2025
By Saumyangi Yadav, Entrepreneur India
Dec 15, 2025
India’s D2C ecosystem has grown rapidly over the past five years, but scale remains elusive. While thousands of brands have launched and many have crossed early revenue milestones, only a small fraction manage to break past INR 100 crore in annual revenue. According to a new report by DSG Consumer Partners, based on a survey of over 100 Indian D2C founders and operators, the problem is not demand or product-market fit, it is how brands attempt to scale.
The report shows that around 60–65 per cent of Indian D2C brands remain stuck in the INR 1–50 crore revenue band, with very few reaching the INR 100 crore mark. This stage marks the point where early traction exists, but growth begins to strain unit economics, teams, and operating systems.
Insights from over 100 D2C founders reveal that India’s fastest-growing brands win on fundamentals rather than speed alone. Clear product-market fit, disciplined data tracking, strong unit economics, creative velocity, and an early focus on retention consistently separate scalable brands from those that plateau. Founders also admit that performance marketing mistakes, pricing missteps, and weak creative systems slow growth far more than budget constraints. In a booming D2C landscape, capability gaps in operations, brand-building, and supply-chain depth are widening the divide between breakout brands and those stuck in the performance plateau.
Industry observers argue that this is where many brands mistake rapid online growth for sustainable scale.
As Devangshu Dutta, Founder & CEO, Third Eyesight, explains, “Scaling up online can be very rapid, but is also capital-hungry in terms of CAC. Given the intense competition, the lack of customer stickiness and the power of platforms, there is a constant churn of marketing spend which is a huge bleed for growing brands.”
CAC Inflation is The Real Constraint
One of the clearest findings from the playbook is that acquisition efficiency, rising CAC and unstable ROAS, is the single biggest blocker to growth, cited by more founders than funding or category expansion. Moreover, over 70 per cent of brands rely on Meta as their primary acquisition channel, increasing vulnerability to auction pressure and platform-driven volatility.
Dutta links this directly to the limits of a digital-only mindset. “Limited offline expansion can trap brands in narrow urban digital markets, blocking broader scale,” he said.
This over-reliance on online performance marketing often leads to growth that looks strong on dashboards but weak on cash flow.
Highlighting their report, Pooja Shirali, Vice President, DSG Consumer Partners, said, “Across over 90 consumer brands we’ve partnered with at DSGCP, one truth is clear: brands that master Meta’s ecosystem don’t just grow, they change their entire trajectory through strategic clarity and disciplined execution. The real drivers of scale have less to do with viral moments, and everything to do with the long-term fundamentals that make milestones like the first INR 100 crore predictable, not accidental.”
Why Omnichannel is Unavoidable
The report suggests that brands that scale sustainably are those that reduce overdependence on paid digital acquisition and expand their distribution footprint. However, offline expansion brings its own complexity.
Dutta stresses that omnichannel is not an optional add-on, but a strategic shift. “D2C brands must adopt an omnichannel approach, blending online with offline retail for sustainable and scalable reach. Clearly the channels work very differently and management teams have to be prepared and capitalised for the long haul to tackle acquiring customers with channel-appropriate strategies,” he adds.
This aligns with the DSGCP report’s broader insight that scale breaks down when brands fail to adapt operating models as they grow.
Even within digital channels, performance weakens over time. The playbook finds that 62 per cent of founders report creative fatigue, where repeated creatives fail to sustain ROAS despite higher spends. At the same time, 55 per cent admit to under-investing in CRM and retention, with most brands reporting repeat purchase rates of just 10–30 per cent.
Both the data and expert opinion point to a common theme: brands that cross the INR 100 crore mark are structurally different. They obsess over unit economics, processes, and capital efficiency rather than topline growth alone.
As Dutta puts it, “Scalable brands that cross the growth hump have leadership obsessed with unit economics and omnichannel execution rather than chasing vanity metrics. Cash always was and is king, especially at early stages of growth.”
He adds that execution strength matters as much as strategy. “They are able to grow and steer teams that build and replicate processes fast rather than spending time, effort and money reinventing all the time, and do so without constant CXO intervention.”
As competition intensifies and capital becomes more selective, the next generation of INR 100 crore D2C brands is likely to be defined not by speed, but by the ability to compound cash flows, institutionalise processes, and scale distribution beyond digital platforms.
Saumyangi is a Senior Correspondent at Entrepreneur India with over three years of experience in journalism. She has reported on education, social, and civic issues, and currently covers the D2C and consumer brand space.
(Published in Entrepreneur India)
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December 3, 2025
Pooja Yadav, Exchange4Media
3 December 2025
Over the last few months, India’s e‑commerce and quick‑commerce ecosystem has undergone a wave of structural regulatory and tax reforms. Be it the Goods and Services Tax Council (GST Council) formally bringing “local delivery services” under the tax net with an 18% levy, or the newly implemented labour and social-security reforms expanding obligations for gig workers on aggregator platforms like Swiggy and Zomato, the cost and compliance landscape for delivery and fulfilment is shifting significantly.
The latest GST clarification, delivery fees, packaging charges, and logistics surcharges are now creating a ripple effect across pricing, platform margins, and seller compliance requirements.
The past few months have already shown concrete signals that platforms are revising their incentives, delivery promises, and fee structures. Following the GST clarification, major food‑delivery players have raised their platform fees, for instance, Zomato reportedly increased its per‑order fee from ₹10 to ₹12 (pre‑GST), while Swiggy also raised fees in select markets. Some quick‑commerce arms are also reworking free‑delivery thresholds or fee waiver conditions. Swiggy Instamart also recently updated its free‑delivery threshold to orders above ₹299, with handling and surge fees applying below that level, per reports.
Meanwhile, some platforms seem to be signalling a de‑emphasis on “ultra‑fast for every order” as universally viable; free or fast delivery now appears increasingly tied to higher order values or subscription/membership perks.
It looks like these pressures are forcing platforms to reconsider long-standing quick-commerce levers such as ultra-fast delivery, first-order free offers, zero delivery fees, and flash discounts — which have historically driven customer acquisition and retention.
While Zomato did not comment directly, it referred to the Code on Social Security, 2020 (CoSS), noting that the platform is prepared for gig-worker obligations and does not expect the rules to negatively impact long-term business sustainability.
According to Kapil Sharma of Amazon Ads, “The e‑commerce landscape will continue to evolve, but some fundamentals remain constant such as delivering value to consumers and providing advertisers with meaningful ways to engage. Our full-funnel ad solutions allow brands to focus on objectives such as new product launches, brand building, or promoting larger pack sizes, ensuring campaigns remain relevant and effective even as the ecosystem adapts to changing costs and regulations.”
e4m reached out to Swiggy, Meesho, Zepto and BigBasket for comments, but did not receive responses until the time of publishing.
Several experts told e4m that the economic model of quick commerce, built on heavily subsidised delivery and small-ticket frequent orders, is under pressure. Platforms will need to find sustainable levers to retain customers without eroding margins. The industry has started to see a strategic recalibration where speed is increasingly becoming a hygiene factor rather than a differentiator, free delivery is becoming conditional, and platforms are nudging consumers toward larger baskets, subscription models, curated bundles, and scheduled deliveries. Brands, in turn, are also shifting focus from mass discounting to premiumisation, value-led messaging, and precise cohort-based targeting.
Will Free Delivery Become Rare?
With the new social‑security obligations for gig workers under India’s labour reforms, and the added cost burden of delivery services now subject to GST, the economic logic underlying “free delivery” as a marketing lever is coming under stress. Chetan Asher, Founder and CEO of Tonic Worldwide, echoes this view, noting that quick-commerce platforms previously operated on thin contribution margins and heavily subsidised small-ticket, frequent orders. With rising delivery costs and mandatory social-security contributions, universal free delivery is becoming increasingly unsustainable.
Industry analysts point out that the new social-security mandates and GST on delivery fees have lifted per-order costs noticeably. Most quick-commerce platforms already operate at low single-digit contribution levels, making blanket “free delivery” hard to justify. It may continue, but only as a conditional incentive tied to higher basket values, subscription memberships, or flexible delivery slots, rather than as a universal subsidy.
Shradha Agarwal, Co- Founder & Global CEO, Grapes Worldwide, added from an advertising standpoint, “It’s already happened, brands like Zomato, Swiggy, Amazon and Flipkart, who know we are going to buy from them, have shifted from ‘buy now’ tactics to ‘stay with me’ strategies. Those days are gone when platforms were giving blanket discounts, now brands are the ones tightening their offers.” Citing an example she mentioned how offline pricing is ₹235, but online it is sold at ₹185, with online adding to top-line rather than bottom-line.
On promo hooks like ‘₹0 delivery’, ‘first-order free’ or ’10-minute delivery’, Agarwal said, “As labour codes, compliance costs, and social-security contributions kick in, platforms will have less room to burn cash on promos that don’t create sustainable value. Consumers care more about convenience than freebies.”
On ad spend shifts, she noted, “Offer-driven campaigns will weaken, while value-driven storytelling will rise. ATL and influencer campaigns will strengthen, and performance marketing will become more strategic. Retail media will become non-negotiable.”
From a brand perspective, Asher pointed out that quick-commerce spends are increasingly evaluated against contribution margin rather than sheer GMV growth. Discounts and zero-fee offers are losing bite as customer acquisition costs rise. First-party data, replenishment journeys, and sharper cohort-based offers are gaining importance, ensuring that incentives remain ROI-focussed rather than mass-oriented. Similarly, speed claims such as “0 delivery” or “10-minute delivery” are becoming less differentiating in top cities, where most players already deliver within 15–20 minutes. Consumers now respond better to reliable ETAs, fair fee structures, and transparent pricing than aggressive speed promises.
Adding her viewpoint, Pooja Dhamdhere, Commerce Lead at Starcom India, said, “Incentives like free delivery or first-order offers are likely to evolve rather than disappear, and platforms will explore strategies such as tiered benefits, curated bundles, or differentiated pricing for specific cohorts.”
According to serial entrepreneur Alok Chawla and Founder at Kiko Live, added that while platforms may continue absorbing delivery costs in the short term, the long-term economics will require charging for ultra-fast or low-value orders. “Once platforms pass the actual delivery costs to consumers, we expect order frequency and small-cart behaviour to change, with many users shifting to larger baskets or neighbourhood retailers offering free delivery,” he noted.
Alternative Consumer-Incentive Models
Devangshu Dutta, founder and chief executive of Third Eyesight, who is an expert in the consumer and modern retail sector, stated, “I think platforms will pass a significant portion of the new 18% GST burden on delivery to end-consumers, either through higher delivery charges or repackaged platform fees. Some of this cost may also be clawed back from restaurant partners and quick-commerce brands via revised commissions, slotting fees or mandatory participation in marketing programmes, especially in categories where the platform has stronger bargaining power. Overall, I expect higher minimum-order thresholds and a tighter margin environment for restaurants and small D2C brands that rely heavily on third-party platforms.”
Analysts highlight strategies such as minimum-order thresholds, where free or lower-fee delivery applies only above a certain cart value, nudging consumers to order larger baskets rather than frequent small-ticket items. Subscription and membership-based models are also gaining prominence, offering benefits like waived or discounted delivery, priority fulfilment, and access to exclusive promotions in exchange for a fixed fee.
Scheduled or batch delivery windows are being used to optimise logistics, reduce cost pressure on ultra-fast last-mile fulfilment, and improve operational efficiency. Meanwhile, curated bundles and value packs, including weekly or monthly combos, allow consumers to plan purchases while enhancing per-unit economics for platforms. These levers also enable brands to maintain margin integrity without over-reliance on short-term discounting.
From a marketing perspective, this shift is prompting agencies and creative-first firms to move toward value-led messaging, premiumisation, and cohort-based targeting. Dhamdhere explained, “Platforms are optimising assortments by surfacing premium SKUs, nudging higher average order values, and using search optimisation to strengthen profitability. Brands are now focusing on aspirational consumers with curated bundles, subscriptions, and value-led propositions, rather than mass discounting. Performance campaigns will continue, but clarity of value and sustainable margin-led offers are becoming key for acquisition and retention.”
2026: Will regulatory pressure force a recalibration?
As 2026 approaches, the combined impact of GST on delivery services and mandatory social-security contributions for gig workers is forcing a fundamental rethink of quick-commerce economics. With blanket discounts, zero delivery fees and ultra-fast delivery no longer viable as mass levers, platforms are shifting toward basket-building, subscriptions, curated bundles and conditional incentives. The growth thesis is evolving from “habit formation at any cost” to protecting contribution margins through reliable ETAs, transparent pricing and premium assortments rather than aggressive subsidies.
Brands are recalibrating alongside this shift. Premiumisation, value-led propositions and sharper cohort-based targeting are taking precedence over broad discounting, and campaigns are increasingly evaluated on ROI, repeat behaviour and lifetime value rather than raw GMV. Tiered memberships, scheduled deliveries and subscription-led conveniences are emerging as key retention tools, while short-form video, influencer ecosystems and retail media help articulate value in a tighter cost environment.
Chawla said platforms will have to move beyond “₹0 delivery”, “first order free” and “10-minute delivery” as core propositions because the delivery cost burn far exceeds margins on small-ticket orders. Many consumers currently place multiple micro-orders a day simply because delivery is free, but once fees come into play, behaviour will likely shift toward clubbing orders or reverting to neighbourhood retailers, who themselves are rapidly digitising through partners like Kiko Live.
In the next phase, he adds, free instant delivery will only be sustainable for larger baskets, whereas scheduled delivery may become the default for free delivery, with paid instant delivery as an optional upgrade. Subscriptions may drive loyalty, but only up to a point, since the heaviest users would consume more deliveries than the subscription fee can realistically subsidise, making it difficult for platforms to make the model profitable.
This points to a clear playbook for 2026. “Free delivery” and mass discounting are expected to fade, giving way to conditional, tier-based formats that reward higher basket values, subscriptions or specific cohorts. Brand platform partnerships will also move toward profitability rather than promotional burn, with campaigns designed to protect margins instead of fuelling discount-led spikes.
Taken together, the signs suggest that 2026 will not mark the end of convenience, but the end of convenience that is subsidised blindly. The real test now is who absorbs this new cost of convenience, platforms, brands, or consumers. And as that battle plays out, another tension is already emerging: whether small and regional advertisers can survive the rising cost of visibility in India’s digital economy.
(published in Exchange4Media)
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December 1, 2025
Priyamvada C, Mint
1 Dec 2025
A wave of investor capital is flowing into India’s laboratory-grown diamond (LGD) segment, as fastscaling brands tap rising consumer adoption in a market now worth well over $300 million. New-age brands have raised multiple rounds of capital on the back of growing market share and improving margins.
Actor Shilpa Shetty-backed Limelight, which is in talks to raise its second round of capital this year, joins the growing list of other small brands such as Onya, Giva, Jewelbox, Lucira Jewellery and Aukera, among others, who have snagged monies in recent months. Limelight has appointed Ambit Capital to raise about $20 million to fund its expansion plans, two people familiar with the matter said.
Confirming the fundraise, the six year-old company’s co-founder Pooja Madhavan said the funds will be used towards store expansion and brand building as it looks to touch 100 stores over the next year. “We are in final talks with growth PE funds and reputed family offices (for the fundraise),” she told Mint.
Other similar fundraises include Onya’s ₹5.5 crore in a pre-seed round led by Zeropearl VC last week, Aukera’s $15 million raise led by Peak XV Partners and Aditya Birla Ventures-backed Giva raised ₹530 crore in an internal round led by Premji Invest, Epiq Capital and Edelweiss Discovery Fund, as it looks to scale up its lab-grown diamond offerings.
Nine pure-play lab grown diamond startups collectively raised a record $26.4 million in 2025, compared with $4.7 million across eight startups last year, data from market intelligence provider Tracxn showed.
The development comes as India’s lab-grown diamond jewellery market, valued at about $300-350 million in 2024, expects to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% over the next decade, as per consultancy firm Redseer’s estimates. As the market evolves, several prominent jewellery brands will gradually pivot from exclusively natural/mined diamonds in favour of lab-grown alternatives, alongside high-end jewellers incorporating the lab-growns into their select collections, which will drive sales volumes and act as an affordable entry point for consumers.
This segment has particularly picked pace in the last five years, with millennials and gen Z leading this shift, driven by better value, trendier designs from new-age brands, and growing comfort with lab-grown diamonds as a certified, high-quality product. This category has also widened beyond occasional fashion to gifting, daily wear and increasingly bridal, reflecting sustained consumer confidence and a willingness to treat them as a mainstream jewellery option, Rohan Agarwal, partner at Redseer told Mint in an emailed statement.
He further added that new-age brands have steadily gained market share in the mid-ticket gifting and daily wear segment with many trying to push into premium ranges. While the competitive landscape is still evolving, incumbents have already started responding by launching LGD lines of their own, although the extent to which they can challenge remains to be seen.
Major Indian brands that are considering a foray into this category include Malabar Gold & Diamonds, Senco Gold, which has launched the subbrand Sennes and Tata’s Trent, which launched its brand Pome in Westside stores.
Devangshu Dutta, founder and chief executive officer at Delhi-based consulting firm Third Eyesight, echoed the sentiment. He explained that new-age lab grown diamond players are forcing traditional jewellers to introduce LGD options or risk losing younger customers. “Not just precious jewellery brands, even those that started as fashion jewellery are expanding their range with LGD designs.”
“Down the road, there is potentially scope for consolidation as investors tend to prefer a handful of scaled platforms with strong brand recall and robust economics. So, as the category matures, there may be strategic acquisitions by large jewellery houses and corporates, as well as mergers among funded startups,” he added.
Those startups that can combine in-house manufacturing, design capabilities and data-driven retail expansion would be at an advantage, Dutta said. “Key future growth areas for LGD startups include omnichannel retail presence within India, with offline stores especially in demand-dense locations such as the metros and Tier 1 cities, export markets both with potential cost advantages and brand expansion, and extending into fashion jewellery, everyday wear, coloured lab grown stones and even luxury collaborations that position lab grown as aspirational rather than merely budget friendly.”
(Published in Mint)
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November 27, 2025
Viveat Susan Pinto, Financial Express
November 27, 2025
Several of the country’s top retailers, malls and brands have kicked off a shopping extravaganza on the occasion of Black Friday, offering steep discounts across product categories.
A Western import, the day which symbolises the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the US, the UK and Europe, gained popularity in India over the past two years as a crucial sale window after Diwali.
Domestic retailers, say experts, are using this period to exhaust existing inventory at steep discounts as they gear up for the winter season.
This year, discounts are up to 60-80% across fashion, lifestyle, electronics and cosmetics, higher than the 50% seen last year. E-tailers such as Ajio have pushed the pedal even harder, offering as much as 85-90% on denims, jackets and select products during the sale this year.
Bigger Deals, Longer Duration
“Retailers in India are building Black Friday as an important off-season peak. The participation of brands is growing, deals are getting bigger and the sale days are more,” Devangshu Dutta, founder and chief executive of Third Eyesight, a Gurugram-based retail consultancy, said. That is visible from the intense promotional activity this year. What began as a flash sale event a couple of years ago has now extended to a week-long sale period this year, experts said.
Pushpa Bector, senior executive director and business head, DLF Retail, said that brands this year are ready with strong offers, driven in part by GST cuts and a stable economic outlook. “Early trends show healthy interest across categories by consumers. We expect a strong double-digit uplift over the Black Friday period, setting us up for a strong close to the year,” she said.
Retailer Strategies
While Black Friday typically falls on the last Friday of November, some retailers such as Flipkart, Croma, Vijay Sales, Nykaa and Tata Cliq have kicked off their Black Friday sales last week itself to build on the excitement. For electronic retailers, said Nilesh Gupta, director, Vijay Sales, Black Friday will extend into Cyber Monday next week (falling on December 1), making it even more relevant for them to focus on the occasion.
“We’ve been building Black Friday as a retail property in the last few of years as it fills the post-Diwali void quite well. Black Friday also extends well into Cyber Monday which comes immediately after. While we started with a few categories in the initial years, we now have offers across all our segments. Discounts are up to 45-50% this year in line with last year,” he said.
Rival Croma is also offering up to 50% discount on products this year, executives said.
“Black Friday has become one of India’s most anticipated shopping moments. At Croma, we are focused on delivering value across categories with steal deals, bundled savings, and limited-time offers,” Croma’s CEO & MD Shibashish Roy said.
Croma will also introduce a special late-night shopping window on November 28 at select stores across India. For two hours—from 10 pm to 11:59 pm —these stores will remain open with exclusive additional discounts on some of the season’s most in-demand products.
Nishank Joshi, chief marketing officer, Nexus Select Malls, said it is elevating the Black Friday experience with bigger assured gifts, giveaways and reward points if consumers upload their bills on their Nexus One apps.
Mayank Lalpuria, director, marketing (north, central & west) at Phoenix Mills, which operates Phoenix malls, said that it was expecting double-digit year-on-year growth and strong footfalls during the Black Friday period.
Tanu Prasad, CEO – Malls, Oberoi Realty, said that the firm was seeing far more planned purchases towards premium products and a rise in family-oriented outings. “We are anticipating an encouraging response at the (Black Friday) weekend resulting in a strong kick-off to the (December) shopping season,” Prasad said.
Direct-to-consumer brands such as Inc.5 footwear and NEWME said that they have rolled out big deals for Black Friday. “We’re looking at a 30x surge in orders across both offline and online for Black Friday,” NEWME Co-founder & CEO Sumit Jasoria said.
“Our customers look forward to Black Friday, and this year, we’re excited to bring fresh new launches, curated edits, and our widest range yet,” Rajesh Kadam, CEO, Inc.5 Footwear, said.
(Published in Financial Express)
