Decoding India’s Festive Season 2025: Customers, Celebrations, and Commerce

Decoding India’s Festive Season 2025: Customers, Celebrations, and Commerce

Studying Time: 4 minutes

India’s festive season has at all times been a cultural crescendo the place sentiment, aspiration, and commerce converge. In 2025, the pattern continues. VDO.AI’s Festive Advertising Playbook 2025 reveals that buyers aren’t simply spending extra, they’re spending with intent, values, and experiences in thoughts.
So, what does this evolving festive panorama appear like? And the way can manufacturers win shopper love on this high-stakes quarter?

The Intent-Led Indian

Festivals in India are deeply emotional inflection factors. This yr’s survey exhibits that over 40% of customers plan to extend their festive budgets in comparison with final yr, whereas one other 43% count on to take care of their spending ranges. However behind this optimism lies nuance.
4 archetypes of festive consumers emerge:

• Necessities-Solely Consumers (21%) – price-conscious, need-driven, centered on belief and practicality.

• Funds-Optimisers (30%) – pragmatic, tradition-first, looking reductions and regional tales.

• Good Spenders (32%) – balancing aspiration with affordability, drawn to EMI offers and peer evaluations.

• Expertise Seekers (15%) – quality-driven, in search of aesthetics, curated gifting, and seamless phygital journeys.

Tier 1 cities are seeing an increase in premium aspirations, whereas smaller cities proceed to gas pragmatic however highly effective consumption progress.

The Worth of Values

Sustainability is now subconsciously embedded in festive decisions. Almost 90% of customers say sustainability performs at the least a reasonable position of their buy choices, with 91% open to paying extra for licensed sustainable merchandise, so long as high quality and efficiency aren’t compromised. The demand for eco-friendly packaging, ethically sourced meals, acutely aware vogue, and zero-waste way of life merchandise factors in direction of a shift in celebrations that mix indulgence with accountability.

For manufacturers, the chance of being dismissed as “greenwashing” is excessive. Authenticity and transparency will resolve who earns festive belief.

The Festive Drumroll

Festive journeys start far earlier than the “D-Day”. Greater than 55% of consumers begin planning their purchases at the least a month prematurely. Some dive in as early as three months prior, particularly in classes like durables and journey.
However last-minute shopping for is outstanding too! Almost 29% make purchases near the event, and 14% store totally on the fly. Discovery, due to this fact, turns into a layered temper: equal elements early planning, impulse inspiration, and contextual nudges.

Festivities additionally transfer with the patron. Over half of respondents plan to journey between August and December, mixing emotion with alternative. For journey and hospitality manufacturers, this “competition in transit” opens a profitable window for storytelling past mere utility.

The place Wallets Go

The heatmap of festive spending for 2025 reveals three dominant themes:

• Vogue & Attire takes the lead, performing as an expression of id and tradition.

• Durables & Electronics emerge as high-intent classes, with 45% of customers prone to buy a significant sturdy this season.

• House Décor, Jewelry, and Gifting maintain the emotional center floor, pushed by cultural rituals and sentiment.

Apparently, our examine additionally revealed that 3 in 4 customers are both planning or open to purchasing premium merchandise this festive season. 

Screens of Affect

The festive shopper’s journey is mediated by screens, with social media performing as the primary showroom. 70% customers uncover new merchandise or items on platforms like Instagram and YouTube, whereas video reigns, with 81% saying that short-form video is their high festive content material format.

That is the place CTV and OLV codecs shine. They mix storytelling with interactivity, enabling QR-based actions, shoppable overlays, and dynamic artistic optimisation. In the meantime, offline nonetheless performs a job in validation. Festive patrons would possibly begin with a reel, however affirm choices by means of household discussions or in-store touchpoints.

Publish-purchase is equally essential: 60%+ of consumers say they’re seemingly to purchase once more inside six months if their festive expertise is optimistic. For manufacturers, loyalty doesn’t finish at checkout however is inbuilt supply, returns, and small personalised gestures that stretch the festive pleasure.

The Festive Outlook

India’s festive market in 2025 is vibrant, layered, and value-driven. Customers are:

• Spending with intent, not extra.

• Selecting values alongside worth.

• In search of experiences past merchandise.

• Shifting fluidly between on-line discovery and offline validation.

For manufacturers, the festive alternative lies in decoding this rhythm. From early planners to last-minute patrons, from aspirational upgrades to sustainable gifting, and from social discovery to CTV storytelling, each touchpoint is an opportunity to affect, encourage, and convert.

Click on right here to obtain the report now and take advantage of out of this festive season.

Lay the groundwork on your promoting success this festive season

India’s festive market in 2025 is layered with intent, aspiration, and values. Consumers are spending with extra function, embracing sustainable decisions, and navigating between screens and shops with ease. For entrepreneurs, this season is about constructing relevance, belief, and loyalty that extends properly past the festive quarter.
At VDO.AI, we see this because the defining second to rethink festive promoting. From immersive video codecs to interactive CTV campaigns, we allow manufacturers to chop by means of the litter, seize consideration the place it issues, and translate it into measurable outcomes. Festive success involves those that can pair cultural nuance with artistic innovation. Let’s discover how your model can win that! Write to us at whats up@vdo.ai to get began.

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