E-commerce enabler GoKwik has analysed 18 crore orders from the 2025 festive season to identify opportunities for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands to improve conversions, reduce delivery returns and increase repeat purchases during this year’s festive period.
The analysis draws on order data from GoKwik’s network of more than 220 million shoppers. It covers purchases made between September 22 and November 5, 2025, and highlights four areas for brands to focus on: payment mix, product bundling, pincode-level demand and high-value customers.
COD remains a key challenge
Cash on delivery (COD) accounted for nearly half of festive orders on GoKwik’s network in 2025. However, COD shipments contributed almost 90% of the total value of orders returned undelivered.
The findings give D2C brands a basis to review their payment strategies, including prepaid and partial-prepaid options, while continuing to account for customer preferences.
“Festive is when brands have the most to gain. Across 18 crore orders, we’ve seen that brands which plan payment mix, bundling and pincode strategy before the sale goes live convert and keep far more of the demand they create,” said Chirag Taneja, Co-founder and CEO, GoKwik.
Bundling can reduce returns
GoKwik’s analysis also found a relationship between basket size and delivery performance. COD orders containing three or four products recorded return-to-origin rates approximately 25% lower than single-item COD orders.
Return-to-origin refers to shipments returned to sellers without being delivered to customers. The data suggests that brands could evaluate bundles and multi-product offers as part of their festive sales strategy, alongside their own category and delivery data.
Tier-3 markets drive demand
Smaller towns emerged as an important source of festive demand, with Tier-3 locations contributing approximately 43% of orders in the dataset.
For D2C brands, the trend underlines the need to build pincode-level strategies around delivery timelines, payment options, inventory placement and customer communication. GoKwik said brands should compare these broader benchmarks with their own delivery records before making operational decisions.
Focus on high-value customers
The top 10% of shoppers accounted for between 38% and 55% of category-level gross merchandise value (GMV), depending on the category.
The finding points to the potential of retention-focused strategies during the festive season. Brands could use their purchase data to identify high-value customers and offer targeted rewards, prepaid incentives and relevant product recommendations to encourage repeat purchases.
Category-specific strategies needed
The analysis covers categories including electronics, beauty and personal care, home and living, fashion, and food and beverages. GoKwik said the differences between categories allow brands to assess opportunities against more relevant benchmarks instead of relying only on a single network-wide average.
The company said the findings are intended to support festive 2026 planning, although actual outcomes will depend on each brand’s execution, product category and customer behaviour.
By: Sejal Thakur
