Neel AcharyMumbai, February 18, 2026: Fynd, an AI-native retail technology company backed by Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, today released its Valentine’s Day E-commerce Report 2026, uncovering how India shopped during the season of love and how romance is reshaping digital retail behaviour across the country.
The report reveals that Valentine’s commerce in 2026 was less about grand gestures and more about personal indulgence, regional expansion, and trust-driven buying behaviour with Tier 3 cities emerging as the strongest demand drivers.
Drawing insights from leading marketplaces including Myntra, Flipkart, Amazon, Tata CLiQ, AJIO and Nykaa, the analysis highlights how shopping patterns during Valentine’s are evolving beyond metros and beyond gifting.
Key Insights from Valentine’s Day 2026
- Tier 3 leads the love economy: Tier 3 cities significantly outpaced larger metros with over 54% in order volumes, reinforcing the rapid normalization of digital commerce in Bharat.
- Sunday was the biggest shopping day: Unlike weekday-led sales seen during national events, Valentine’s demand peaked on Sunday reflecting leisure-led browsing and last-minute gifting behaviour.
- Personal Care becomes the season’s breakout category: Personal Care emerged as the second most shopped category with 14.16% share, overtaking traditional leaders like footwear and ethnic wear that dominate during festive periods. Clothing retained the top position with 17.06%.
- Tata CLiQ leads personal care demand: Tata CLiQ emerged as the most preferred marketplace for personal care purchases during the Valentine’s window.
- Cash on Delivery makes a comeback especially in grooming: While overall COD stood at 55% during the period, personal care saw nearly 70% COD usage indicating higher caution and trust considerations for intimate and grooming-led purchases.
- Regional shifts in demand patterns: Regional demand showed a clear contrast during the Valentine’s period. Overall orders were led by North, followed by West, South and East. However, personal care demand reversed this trend, with West and East emerging ahead of other regions highlighting stronger grooming-led consumption in these markets.
- Bihar enters top ordering states: Bihar made it to the top five ordering states during the Valentine’s period underscoring the growing consumption power of emerging markets.
- Stores step back, warehouses lead fulfilment: Breaking from recent omnichannel balance, store participation in personal care fulfilment dropped sharply during the Valentine’s window. With just 6.5% of orders dispatched from stores, brands leaned on warehouse networks to manage turnaround time and stock control.
The category mix reflected evolving preferences, with Clothing and Personal Care together accounting for nearly one-third of total Valentine’s orders.
“This Valentine’s Day, we saw a clear shift from occasion-led gifting to personal expression led shopping. The rise of personal care, strong Tier 3 demand, and high COD usage indicate a consumer who is aspirational yet cautious. What’s particularly interesting is how fulfilment trends deviated from festive patterns to warehouse-led dispatches, while store-led fulfilment dipped, especially in personal care. These shifts underscore that occasion commerce today demands category-specific intelligence and real-time orchestration requiring a fundamentally different approach to inventory planning and platform strategy,”
Ragini Varma, Chief Business Officer – India, Fynd.
While Valentine’s remains a shorter retail window compared to festive mega-sales, the findings reflect deeper structural shifts in Indian e-commerce from Tier 3 acceleration and Sunday-led browsing to the rise of self-gifting and category-specific payment behaviours. The season of love, it appears, is increasingly powered by data, personalisation, and regional aspiration.
