Mumbai: India’s summer sale season signals a new phase for e-commerce, where AI-powered customer engagement is delivering measurable commercial outcomes, consumers are spending more per transaction, and demand remains resilient despite changes in the sale calendar.
Insights from Unicommerce’s ecosystem of solutions show that this year’s summer sale season was defined by three trends: AI emerging as a revenue and customer engagement engine, rising consumer confidence across higher-value purchases, and sustained shopping momentum throughout the sale period. The season included Amazon’s Great Summer Sale, overlapping Flipkart’s Sasa Lele and Big Bachat Days campaigns, followed by Myntra’s End of Reason Sale and several category-led campaigns by e-commerce and D2C brands.
AI adoption accelerated beyond customer support into revenue generation and fulfilment efficiency. During the summer sale period, brands leveraged Catalyst, the AI voice agent offered by Convertway, Unicommerce’s customer engagement platform, to recover thousands of orders through abandoned cart recovery, COD confirmations, address verification, and customer engagement initiatives. AI-powered voice calls alone reached more than 1.15 lakh shoppers and recovered orders worth more than Rs. 1.3 crore, delivering an ROI of over 15x and highlighting the effectiveness of timely, personalised outreach.
AI also played a growing role in improving order fulfilment efficiency, helping brands reduce cancellations and improve delivery success rates. In parallel, nearly 1,000 AI-enabled automated messaging campaigns powered by Convertway reached over 34 lakh consumers providing additional support to brands in improving marketing efficiencies. The trend reflects how brands are increasingly using AI not just to support customers, but also to drive conversions, recover revenue, and improve operational efficiency during high-demand sale periods.
Consumer spending also strengthened during the season. Analysis of transactions processed through Unicommerce’s flagship platform, Uniware, showed average order values increasing by over 25% in Home Decor & Furnishings and over 16% in FMCG, indicating stronger demand across both discretionary and everyday purchase categories.
Although the first major sale began on 7 May this year compared to 1 May in 2025, consumer demand remained robust throughout the season. Comparing equivalent sale weeks across both years, order volumes rose 29% in the opening week, peaked at 41% in week two, and continued to grow by 14%, 24% and 32% over the following three weeks, reflecting sustained participation across the extended sale period.[1]
Quick commerce continued its rapid expansion, with order volumes growing by over 60% year-on-year. Nutraceuticals & Supplements and Home Decor & Furnishings accounted for the largest share of quick commerce orders, while Beauty & Personal Care recorded the highest growth, followed by Health & Pharma and Fashion & Accessories, highlighting the channel’s evolution beyond convenience purchases.
Returns remained a key profitability lever during the sale period. Analysis by Shipway, Unicommerce’s logistics platform, found that brands were able to limit return-to-origin (RTO) rates to 17% during the summer sale period, compared to ~25% during the corresponding period last year. The improvement highlights the growing focus on order validation, delivery optimisation, and customer communication to reduce fulfilment-related losses.
The analysis further found that Mizoram, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Goa, and Kerala recorded the lowest RTO rates during this year’s sale period, reflecting stronger delivery outcomes and lower return incidence across these regions.
Together, these trends highlight how AI, premiumisation, and operational excellence are shaping the next phase of e-commerce growth. As the industry heads into upcoming shopping events, including Amazon’s Prime Day sale, the trends observed during the summer sale season underscore the growing importance of AI-led customer engagement, premiumisation, and operational efficiency in driving e-commerce performance.
