This Holi, the festival of colours didn’t just light up streets but also set quick-commerce platforms like Zomato’s Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart ablaze with record sales.

Amidst a colourful long weekend, these platforms were on the verge of smashing their previous records, thanks to a surge in orders for Holi essentials like colours, sweets, water guns, and flowers. Not to be left behind, even white T-shirts and coconut oil saw an unexpected demand spike.

What to know: Swiggy Instamart was eyeing a milestone of over 7 lakh orders in a day, its highest yet, while Zepto wasn’t far behind with a projected 6 lakh orders. To put it into perspective, on a regular day, Swiggy and Zepto would see around 5.5 lakh and 5 lakh orders, respectively, with Blinkit leading the pack in many major markets with about 6 lakh daily orders.

The chiefs of these platforms couldn’t contain their excitement, sharing their successes on X. Albinder Dhindsa of Blinkit teased a record-breaking spree, hinting at surpassing their Valentine's Day peak.

Meanwhile, Swiggy's Phani Kishan Addepalli noted a fivefold increase in flower sales compared to last Holi, and Zepto's Aadit Palicha celebrated the platform’s diversity beyond groceries, spotlighting the high demand for white T-shirts.

Adeepalli, who also leads Swiggy Instamart, also shared a post revealing that a customer ordered Holi essentials comprising water guns, pichkari and gulal worth a whopping ₹5,202. He also revealed a staggering demand for gulal, peaking at 444 GPM (Gulals per minute), with orders pouring in as early as 6 am on Monday.

These festive periods are proving to be gold mines for quick-commerce, with sales soaring beyond expectations, not just for traditional items but for a broad array of products. However, the spike in orders did lead to some delivery hiccups in Delhi NCR, highlighting the challenges of meeting such high demand.

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