Quick grocery delivery apps have become an important part of urban consumers’ life, who are now increasingly using these services to order last minute gifts for their Valentine.

Quick commerce players like Swiggy Instamart, Dunzo, Zepto, Blinkit have recorded a steep rise in demand for roses and chocolates order during Valentine’s week (February 7 to 14). While Zomato-owned Blinkit delivered 10,000 single roses by 10 am on Valentine’s Day, Zepto has sold over 200,000 roses during Valentine’s week and Swiggy Instamart is projecting to hit a million rose orders. 

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“The average demand for Chocolates on Zepto, especially heart-shaped cookies, candies, and chocolates, doubled between the 7th and 14th of Feb, with a 4x jump in sales on February 9, Chocolate Day. Icecreams saw a growth of over 50 per cent in the second week of February,” Vinay Dhanani, COO, Zepto told businessline. 

Adding to this, Mrunmayi Oke, Head, category and growth at Dunzo said, “During Valentine’s week, roses and chocolates saw a lot of last minute orders and were also among our top-selling products. In fact, we crossed our selling target and hit a 100 per cent sale on all the roses that we had procured. Chocolates saw a 25 per cent jump in the week overall & 3x jump on chocolate day (February 9).”

Blooming numbers

Karthik Gurumurthy, Head of Swiggy Instamart, also noted that there has been a rising demand for freshly harvested roses, especially during Valentine’s week, and Instamart’s sellers have been working to meet the demand by sourcing from more than 80 farmers across 8-9 key locations. 

“In 2022, Instamart fulfilled over 2.5 lakh rose orders during this period. This year, Swiggy Instamart is expecting a 4x jump in orders, hoping to fulfill nearly a million rose orders. Other than chocolates and roses, we also expect a rise in demand for Teddy Bears, greeting cards, and curated gift boxes. Consumers are ordering everything from premium beauty gift hampers to couple’s mugs through Instamart,” he added.

Also read: Bengaluru’s rose exports blossom ahead of Valentine’s Day

Similarly, Blinkit recorded 2,000 chocolate orders per hour on February 9 (Chocolate Day). “More than 10,000 single roses, 1,200 bouquets already delivered. Good start to Valentine’s day,” CEO Albinder Dhindsa tweeted at 10 am on February 14. 

30 per cent of all orders on Blinkit till Valentine’s Day afternoon were placed for someone else.

The uptake in quick commerce platforms has also helped boost scale and profits for farmers and local businesses. Gurumurthy noted that Instamart works with a Bengaluru-based enterprise called Four Seasons Flower Depot which has been in the business for about 38 years. “They sell about 20,000 stems per day but during January-February this demand has grown 3x. They have planned for this season as early as December,” he added. 

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