From last-minute party essentials to high-value gifting, Instamart’s real-time data captures how India rang in 2026
As India ushered in the New Year, Instamart witnessed a sharp spike in last-minute shopping, reflecting a blend of festive traditions, spontaneous celebrations and inevitable New Year’s Eve forgetfulness.
A playful reminder earlier this week featuring a grape-costumed Instamart character nudged users about the popular “12 grapes at midnight” ritual. The prompt appeared to resonate strongly. According to real-time updates shared by Instamart and Phani Kishan Addepalli, Co-founder at Swiggy, the platform recorded 235,000 searches for grapes in the first half of New Year’s Eve, with queries beginning as early as 5 am. As celebrations gathered pace, grape searches surged 78-fold, highlighting how even familiar traditions benefit from timely reminders.
As the night unfolded, Instamart’s data reflected classic New Year’s Eve panic-buying behaviour. Orders spiked across ice, snacks, mixers, beverages and party essentials, reinforcing the fact that celebratory supplies are rarely stocked in sufficient quantity.
Beyond Metros, Momentum Builds
While metropolitan cities continued to dominate volumes, demand expanded rapidly beyond large urban centres. Lonavla, Karimnagar, Saharanpur, Davanagere, Patiala and Meerut emerged as high-growth locations during peak evening hours.
Patiala stood out, with one customer placing an order of over 200 items in a single day, including 108 packs of Kurkure. Another shopper from the city ordered gold coins worth Rs 6 lakh, signalling celebratory spending at scale.
Big Baskets, Bigger Celebrations
High-value purchases marked the final hours of 2025. In Bengaluru, a customer placed a single order worth Rs 1.8 lakh, purchasing two iPhones, while another ordered protein supplements valued at Rs 41,000. In Mumbai, a user received gold worth Rs 1.45 lakh as a gift via Instamart, underscoring the growing trend of gifting through quick commerce platforms.
Notably, nearly one in nine New Year’s Eve orders on Instamart were placed for friends and family, reinforcing its role in facilitating last-minute celebrations and thoughtful surprises.
What India Stocked Up On
In the final hour of the year, Instamart recorded sharp category spikes with Grapes: 15x, Cakes: 7x, BBQ-related items: 6x, Beverages: 3.5x, Party glasses: 2.5x, Pizza bases: 1.8x, Calendars and planners: 1.5x
Regional preferences were also evident, with skewers and coal seeing strong traction in Pune and Kolkata, while tonic water emerged as the most trending beverage nationwide. Searches for card games tripled as parties extended well past midnight.
A Year of Loyalty
Closing the year on a celebratory note, Instamart also highlighted its most loyal users. One customer placed 4,548 orders in 2025, including 15 orders on New Year’s Eve alone, earning the title of Instamart’s MVP customer of the year.
Reflecting on the trend, Amitesh Jha, Chief Executive Officer of Instamart, said 2025 marked a defining year for both Instamart and quick commerce in India. He noted that what began as a Tier-1 convenience is rapidly becoming urban utility infrastructure, with strong growth now coming from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. According to Jha, New Year’s Eve once again demonstrated how Indian consumers are turning to quick commerce for everything from groceries and party supplies to electronics, gifting and even gold, reinforcing the platform’s growing role in everyday life as India steps into 2026.
