Sep 21: As Ganesh Chaturthi kicks off the festive shopping season this year season, quick commerce platforms have been stocking up on five traditional staples — dairy products, cookies, chocolates, ice cream, instant mixes, and packaged water— anticipating high demand through the celebrations.
Milk, curd, paneer, ghee, butter and other dairy products remain at the heart of every Indian festival for prasad, and other sweet traditional preparations, but more so during
Ganpati celebrations. Chilled dairy continues to be one of the key drivers of festive consumption this year.
Sweet tooth indulgences
Festivals forgive all sweet indulgences, as seen in the stocking up of cookies, chocolates, ice cream and instant mixes by brands during the 10-day festivities. Demand for chocolates as the perfect gifting and indulgence choice and preference for traditional mithai in smaller pack sizes in jaggery and dry-fruit variants seen as strong trends.
Ice Cream And Frozen Treats
Ice creams and frozen treats have intrinsically become a part of festive gatherings and family occasions. With impulse formats continuing to drive around 60% of total market sales, consumers now find more occasions for an extra tub for a gathering, a last-minute purchase for guests or a convenient impromptu festive treat.
Packaged Water
Ten-day pandal hopping, visarjan processions and large family gatherings often create demand for clean and cool drinking water on the go leading to a stock up of this precious resource by brands.
This Ganesh Chaturthi, as we see greater resilience in demand and more diversity in consumption patterns, quick commerce platforms rely increasingly on cold chain networks to enable these impulse-led festive purchases. With the added advantage of lower GST rates on these festive staples, consumers are able to indulge more this year during these celebrations.
For the cold-chain ecosystem, the demand translates into sustained and potentially higher pre-planned movement across dairy, frozen desserts, chocolates and other temperature-sensitive categories to keep the festive momentum going.