Heartbreak or heart-shaped hampers? Q-comm has a page for everyone

Valentine’s Day may not rival Diwali in scale, but for quick commerce platforms, it has quietly become a high-velocity business moment.

This year, open Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto or BigBasket during Valentine's week, and the shift is unmistakable. App interfaces turn pink. Rose Day, Chocolate Day and Hug Day get their own landing pages. 

Blinkit and Instamart even offer a “Single Mode”; tap it and the app transforms into a “self-love zone” filled with self-care and indulgence picks.

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Zepto, on the other hand, navigates a more nuanced cultural landscape by recognising terms such as “situationships”, “nanoships”, and “breadcrumbing”, as not everyone fits neatly into the categories of "couple" or "single".

Love isn’t just digital. Even delivery paper bags get Valentine-themed makeovers.

But beyond the couple-y UI lies something more significant: Valentine’s is becoming a sharp, high-intent revenue spike for quick commerce.

Here are some glimpses from last year: 

Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa tweeted that the platform was dispatching 406 chocolates per minute on February 9. “More than 20,000 chocolates and chocolate boxes are on the way and will be delivered in the next 10 minutes,” he wrote.

The peak is here and currently running at 406 CPM!

More than 20k chocolates and chocolate boxes are on the way and will be delivered in the next 10 minutes ✌️ https://t.co/8ZGzncSzq3

— Albinder Dhindsa (@albinder) February 9, 2024

Swiggy’s Rohit Kapoor shared that cake orders started spiking the evening before, peaking around 10 pm. “Cakes per minute (CPM) will go up today,” he said.

Last year, Swiggy did 271 cakes per minute (CPM) on V-day. India has beaten that record already with a peak of 309 CPM as of 12 noon pic.twitter.com/E2wmwGOSGV

— Rohit Kapoor (@rohitisb) February 14, 2024

From convenience to strategic channel

For brands, quick commerce is no longer a last-minute topping-up channel. It is becoming a strategic lever for high-emotion moments.

GIVA (jewellery brand)

“Quick commerce has moved from being a convenience lever to a strategic growth channel for us, especially during high-emotion occasions like Valentine’s Day,” says a GIVA spokesperson.

GIVA collaborated with Cadbury Silk and Blinkit on a culture-led activation featuring The YES Button, a mall installation at Phoenix Mall of Asia, Bengaluru, designed to engage visitors.

The jewellery brand has seen a 4x year-on-year growth on quick commerce during Valentine’s. The spike, they note, is “sharp and concentrated” in the final 24–48 hours. Rings and curated gift sets see strong surges, particularly closer to the occasion.

“Valentine’s on quick commerce is driven by urgency and emotion,” the spokesperson adds. “While the purchase is impulsive, the product choice remains thoughtful.”

Plum BodyLovin’ (personal care/beauty brand)

Plum BodyLovin’ echoes the shift. “Quick commerce has become a critical channel for us during high-intent, time-sensitive occasions like Valentine’s Day,” says Stuti Sethi, brand lead at Plum BodyLovin’. The brand typically sees a close to 60% spike compared to regular months, with most growth concentrated in the final 24–48 hours.

What’s interesting, Sethi notes, is the growing preference for “topical and occasion-led packaging”. Heart-shaped pouches and themed gift formats are driving traction, proof that even in a 10-minute delivery model, aesthetics still matter.

FNP – Ferns and Petals (gifting portal):

The shift is visible in both urgency and volume. “Valentine’s Day drives a significant increase in demand, and this year, we’re seeing 2x the demand compared to last year,” says Avi Kumar, CMO at FNP.

The brand has observed a sharp rise in last-minute gifting, particularly on February 13 and 14. Interestingly, there has also been a spike in single-rose orders on quick commerce, suggesting that while grand gestures dominate advertising, micro-gestures are winning carts.

boAT (audio wearables brand)

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For this Valentine's Day, boAt partnered with Instamart to turn last-minute gifting into a meaningful moment with the Chrome Iris smartwatch. 

“Women aren’t looking for extravagant gestures; they’re looking for intent and understanding,” says a boAt spokesperson, highlighting how thoughtful, practical gifts are winning over grandiose clichés.

Impulse, intimacy and 10-minute intent

If chocolates and jewellery define one side of the story, sexual wellness defines another.

Bold Care (sexual wellness brand)

“Quick commerce is now one of the primary channels for sexual wellness purchases,” says Rajat Jadhav, co-founder and CEO of Bold Care. 

“Categories such as condoms, lubes and massagers are largely impulse-driven, so the convenience of receiving an order within 10–15 minutes really matters.”

Bold Care has seen almost 2x growth on Valentine’s Day compared to business-as-usual days. Orders skew heavily toward the second half of the day — last-minute, immediate-need driven.

The new micro-festival economy

What’s changing is not just volume; it’s behaviour.

Quick commerce platforms are treating Valentine’s less like a greeting-card holiday and more like a micro-festival. Dedicated tabs. Homepage visibility. Thematic filters. Hyper-local inventory planning. Influencer-led amplification.

For platforms, it’s a chance to increase basket sizes and app stickiness during an otherwise non-festive quarter. For brands, it’s a high-margin, high-intent window compressed into 48 hours. And for consumers, it reflects a broader shift: celebration has become immediate, reactive and platform-led.