Swiggy's quick commerce arm, Instamart, has released its comprehensive 2025 order report, providing a fascinating lens into the evolving shopping habits of Indians. The data paints a picture of a platform catering to every need, from mundane daily essentials to extravagant luxury purchases, while highlighting a significant geographical shift in adoption.
Extreme Spending and Everyday Essentials
The financial spectrum of purchases on Instamart was remarkably wide in 2025. The platform's highest spender racked up a staggering Rs 22 lakh in purchases. In a display of high-value trust in quick commerce, a user in Mumbai bought gold worth Rs 15.16 lakh. Hyderabad saw a customer spend Rs 4.3 lakh on iPhones, while a Chennai resident's annual expenditure exceeded Rs 1 lakh solely on condoms. Contrasting this, the report also recorded ultra-low-value transactions, such as a Bengaluru user placing an order for just Rs 10 for a printout.
On the everyday front, the most frequently repeated orders nationwide consisted of staple kitchen and household items. The list was dominated by curry leaves, curd, eggs, milk, and bananas. Swiggy highlighted one extreme case in Kochi, where a single customer ordered curry leaves 368 times in the year, averaging nearly one order per day.
Tier-II Cities Drive Order Volume Surge
One of the most significant findings of the report is the explosive growth of quick commerce in India's Tier-II cities, indicating a rapid expansion of the service's footprint beyond metropolitan areas.
Rajkot led this charge with a phenomenal tenfold (10x) increase in order volumes compared to the previous year. It was closely followed by Ludhiana, which saw orders grow seven times (7x), and Bhubaneswar, recording a fourfold (4x) rise. This surge points to a rapidly maturing market and growing consumer reliance on instant delivery services in these regions.
Peak Hours and Unusual Trends
The report also shed light on temporal shopping patterns. Most users preferred to place their orders during two distinct peak windows: the morning rush between 7 am and 11 am, and the evening window from 4 pm to 7 pm. Furthermore, Mondays emerged as the most popular day for sending gifts via the Instamart platform.
Among the unusual spending habits noted was the generosity of a Bengaluru customer, who spent a total of Rs 68,600 on tips for delivery partners over the course of the year, acknowledging their service.
Financial Performance and Market Context
While the order report shows vibrant consumer activity, it comes against the backdrop of continued financial challenges for Swiggy in the quick-commerce segment. The company reported that its consolidated net loss widened to Rs 1,092 crore for the quarter ended September 2025. This marks a significant increase from the net loss of Rs 626 crore in the same period last year.
Swiggy attributed this widening loss to continued losses in its quick-commerce business and higher spending on advertising and sales promotions. This indicates that despite strong growth in order volumes and user adoption, particularly in Tier-II cities, the path to profitability in the hyper-competitive quick commerce sector remains costly and challenging.
