The Blinkit logo.
Credit: Reuters Photo
People across the country rung in the New Year with much grandeur and pomp. And, as is evident, Indians did not hold back from spending lavishly on Decemeber 31 in order to make their New Year celebrations as extravagant as possible.
Needless to say, reaping the benefits of it all were the quick commerce companies. To add some perspective, Indian quick commerce service Blinkit recorded its 'highest ever orders in a single day' on Tuesday, Decemeber 31, according to co-founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa.
Not only that - Blinkit also clocked its highest ever orders per minute (OPM) and orders per hour (OPH), among many other milestones on Tuesday, thanks to New Year's Eve revellers across the country.
The service platform also saw the most chips and most grapes being sold in a single day on December 31.
The sale of grapes likely comes due to the New Year eve trend of having to sit under the table and eat twelve grapes at 12 o' clock -- one for each month -- and make a wish for the new year.
In a post on social media platform X, Albinder Dhindsa jotted down the list of milestones achieved by Blinkit on Tuesday.
"Just some of the milestones we hit on Blinkit today - highest ever orders in a day, highest OPM (orders per minute), highest OPH (orders per hour), highest total tips given to delivery partners in a day, most chips sold in a day, most grapes sold in a day. Thank you for ordering and placing your trust in us, India! Happy new year everyone," he wrote.
In a seperate post on X, Dhindsa mentioned that Bengalureans topped the list of cities which shelled out the maximum of amount of tips given to delivery partners of Blinkit, with a whopping Rs 1,79,735 in total.
"Someone from Hyderabad just gave the highest tip of the day (Rs 2500) to one of our delivery partners! And the city which has tipped the most today is Bengaluru with a total of Rs 1,79,735 in tips," he revealed.
Meanwhile, the biggest party order of December 31 came from Kolkata, which was worth a staggering Rs 64,988.
"Biggest party order of the day just got placed! From Kolkata. Worth Rs 64,988," Dhindsa wrote on X.
Noticing an upward trend of lemon orders on his platform hours before midnight on New Year's eve, Dhindsa wondered whether the country's party people were gearing up for some tequila shots!
"Nimboo orders spiking right now! Is it officially tequila time?" he posted on X.
India's ordering patterns weren't just limited to food items, snacks or beverages - in a rather amusing trend, men's underwear sales shot up unexpectedly during the late hours of New Year's eve.
"Another product which I didn't expect will be ordered in high quantities - men's underwear. Chart comparing today vs last tuesday," the Blinkit CEO revealed on X.
A noticeable surge in condom sales was also seen on New Year's eve, with as many as 1,22,356 condom packs ordered on Blinkit as of 10 pm on Tuesday.
"1,22,356 packs of condoms, 45,531 bottles of mineral water, 22,322 Partysmart, 2,434 Eno ..are en route right now! Prep for after party?" mentioned Dhindsa on X.
Zomato-owned Blinkit witnessed a huge demand of party items like chips, soda and even condoms till 7 pm on Tuesday. An unprecedented demand for grapes led to it going out of stock from the platform. It delivered seven times more grapes than usual.
The quick commerce company delivered around 2,34,512 packets of aloo bhujiya, followed by 45,531 cans of tonic water and close to 7,000 packets of ice cubes. Additionally, users also bought a little more than a thousand lipsticks and 262 lighters, as of 8 pm on Tuesday.
Not just Blinkit, the last day of 2024 was a record-setting one for quick commerce and food-ordering service platforms as a whole.
On Swiggy Instamart, demand for ice hit its peak around 7 pm on Tuesday, with 119 kgs being delivered to Mumbai. Bengaluru and Hyderabad also emerged as the top locations stocking up for chilled drinks, leaving Chennai behind despite doubling its regular orders on the platform.