An exclusive ClickPost analysis of 50.8 million shipments shows these habit-led categories now account for 81.8 per cent of all D2C orders within this cohort
Highlighting that India’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) cart has moved beyond one big-ticket purchase, a report has stated that challenger categories such as skincare, wellness, new-age fashion, pet care and sleep and comfort are reshaping the ecosystem. The D2C cart today is more about the products people reorder, refill, restock and replace.
An exclusive ClickPost analysis of 50.8 million shipments shows these habit-led categories now account for 81.8 per cent of all D2C orders within this cohort. Across ClickPost’s D2C network, skincare brands averaged 37,874 orders a day in the last financial year, while jewellery averaged 5,986. This meant that for every jewellery box delivered, six skincare parcels hit the doorstep.
“The growth story has shifted away from high-ticket, occasion-based categories like jewellery. Sleep and Comfort grew 2.2 times faster than jewellery. Wellness outpaced conventional fashion by nearly 2.7 times. Every new-age category grew faster than its traditional equivalent. The fastest-growing among them barely had a name in Indian ecommerce five years ago,” the company said.
Moving Beyond Metros
With digital native brands are no longer limited to metros, smaller cities have become the primary engine of the D2C economy, consistent, growing and deeper than conventional retail has ever reached. The report said that skincare brands now deliver to a footprint 9 per cent wider than conventional fashion, reaching 21,700 pincodes nationally.
Roughly 44 per cent of wellness and skincare volume comes from tier 3 and beyond, up from 43 per cent a year ago. The report mentioned that Jaipur placed one skincare or wellness order for every ten residents in FY2026. Kanchipuram, a city of 2.5 lakh, placed one new-age fashion order for every three, it said.
Unlike most categories that spike during Diwali and slow in quieter months, these categories sell at nearly the same volume all year round. The report noted that wellness brands averaged 35,058 orders a day in July 2025. In November, Diwali month, that number was 35,713. July was 98 per cent of the Diwali peak, the report added.
In skincare, July volume actually surpassed the festive month. Pet care averaged 4,006 orders a day in July, 89 per cent of its Diwali peak. India’s pet parents have placed their animals on the same monthly replenishment cycle as their own skincare, the findings pointed out. New-age fashion held 93 per cent of its November volume in July, it added.
Volume Growth, Higher Spends
New-age D2C fashion has overtaken conventional retail by volume without a single physical store. The report added that new-age D2C fashion shipped 11.83 million orders in FY2026, while conventional fashion shipped 7.05 million.
“The Souled Store, Snitch, Bewakoof; brands scaled on a feed before they opened their first store. These brands ship 68 per cent more orders by volume than traditional fashion brands, even though they first gained widespread recognition without having a physical store,” the report added.
New-age fashion averaged Rs 1,586 per order while conventional fashion averaged Rs 1,854. Social media now influences 77 per cent of retail purchase decisions in India, the report added. Challenger categories are not cheap alternatives to traditional shopping.
The pricing data shows considered, deliberate spending on a new set of daily priorities. Sleep and Comfort averages Rs 10,633 per order, the highest of any challenger category. The RTO rate is 0.19 per cent, one failed delivery in every 527 attempts, the lowest in the network, the report added. Skincare averages Rs 987 per order, while wellness averages Rs 1,074.
