The study aimed to uncover how Indian consumers plan, shop, and celebrate during Diwali, the country’s most significant festive season, providing rich urban Indian festive shopping insights and in-depth Diwali consumer behavior analysis in India. The objective was to understand spending behavior, shopping channels (online vs. offline), product preferences, gifting patterns, and category-level purchase intent among urban consumers, aligning with broader online vs offline Diwali shopping trends and festive retail research.

A total of 1,600 quality responses were collected from 16 major cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, providing a comprehensive view of Diwali celebration trends across metro cities and robust urban festive insights across key metros and Tier-1 cities.

Business Challenge

With Diwali serving as a crucial sales period across industries, brands often compete intensely for consumer attention. However, shifting digital habits, changing income dynamics, and hybrid retail models have made consumer decision-making more complex, reflecting evolving festive consumer behavior, Indian shopping habits, and digital vs traditional Diwali retail insights.

The challenge was to generate timely, actionable insights on how, where, and why consumers spend during the festive season, helping marketers fine-tune campaign timing, channel allocation, and product positioning to align with real urban consumer sentiment during the Diwali season and precise Diwali shopping preferences and motivations using data-driven festive marketing insights in India.

Our Approach

The research was conducted through an online quantitative survey targeting urban Indian consumers aged 18–45 from NCCS A and B segments, supporting a high-quality Indian consumer study and Indian retail analytics. Using our proprietary online panel, we ensured a diverse and balanced sample across cities and demographics, enhancing the validity of this festive purchase intent study in India.

The study explored:
• Festive spending patterns and budget allocation across product categories (Indian festive spending pattern research and festive spending trends)
• Shopping channel preferences, contrasting online convenience with offline experience (online festive shopping, offline retail trends)
• Gifting behavior, including popular categories and purchase triggers (Diwali gifting behavior among urban consumers, Diwali gifting trends)
• Category-level purchase intent across key consumer goods segments (Diwali category-level purchase insights, consumer purchase intent)

The fieldwork was executed within a short turnaround window, demonstrating our capability to mobilize targeted samples rapidly without compromising on data quality. Rigorous validation processes and engagement checks ensured high data reliability and representativeness, critical for reliable festive season analysis and Diwali marketing research.

Results

The findings revealed that Diwali shopping is increasingly omnichannel, with consumers blending online convenience and offline experiences depending on category and occasion, illustrating strong omnichannel shopping behavior during Diwali and broader festive omnichannel trends.

Younger audiences leaned toward e-commerce platforms for apparel, gadgets, and gifting, while older consumers continued to prefer physical stores for traditional items such as home décor and sweets, reflecting evolving online vs offline Diwali shopping trends.

Spending intentions remained strong, driven by post-pandemic optimism and social celebration. Gifting emerged as both a personal and corporate expression, with growing interest in personalized, premium, and eco-friendly options, key insights for Diwali retail strategy and festive campaign planning.

The insights provided a granular understanding of purchase timing, category prioritization, and motivational drivers, enabling brands to optimize festive communication strategies and retail readiness through refined festive campaign optimization strategies in India.

The project also showcased the efficiency and depth of our proprietary panel, delivering large-scale, high-quality data within tight timelines, underscoring our strength in executing quick-turnaround, high-impact urban India research and festive retail research across India.

Leverage real Diwali consumer insights to plan your next festive campaign with precision and impact. Connect with us to unlock a data-driven understanding of India’s celebration and shopping behavior.