As India inches closer to its high-stakes festive season, logistics providers across the spectrum are preparing for what is traditionally the most crucial period of the retail calendar. The months from September to December often witness a surge in sales that can make or break annual targets for retailers and brands. For logistics companies, this translates into compressed peaks, capacity crunches, and heightened customer expectations around speed, reliability, and service quality.

This year, logistics leaders are aligning their strategies with changing retail dynamics—omnichannel demand, deeper penetration into Tier II and III markets, and tighter compliance around categories like electronics and gifting. Cross-border trade too is gaining momentum, especially in perishables, where festive demand in Gulf and Middle Eastern markets creates fresh challenges for exporters.

Demand Peaks and New Festive Trends

The festive season in India doesn’t just bring higher order volumes—it compresses them into shorter, sharper peaks. “The festive season drives a sharp rise in first-mile and middle-mile movement. We expect higher inter-city volumes as brands push inventory faster to regional hubs and dark stores,” said Raj Somani, Founder & CEO, LinkedLogi.

ClickPost’s data echoed this trend. “What we see across brands is that spikes are sharper and clustered around sale weekends, especially those tied to payday cycles,” noted Naman Vijay, CEO & Co-Founder, ClickPost. “We recalibrate our carrier-allocation logic, adjust promised delivery dates, and raise our monitoring thresholds well before the surge begins. In terms of trends, we expect two clear shifts this year: faster delivery demand in metros, and deeper order growth in Tier II and III cities. Another notable shift is in the product mix—electronics and gifting categories require tighter proof-of-delivery and tamper-safe workflows, which we support through AI-powered verification tools.”

At Prozo, the focus is on omnichannel readiness. “Festive demand has become genuinely omnichannel—it’s no longer limited to one channel like marketplaces. Today, demand surges simultaneously across D2C websites, B2C marketplaces, quick commerce platforms, and even retail replenishment,” explained Dr. Ashvini Jakhar, Founder & CEO, Prozo. “This year, we expect festive volumes to be anywhere between 30–50 percent higher than last year’s season. Several of our fulfillment centers are already running 30–40 percent higher throughput compared to April 2025 baselines.”

Adding a cross-border perspective, Biplob Barik, Co-Founder & Director, Citrus Freight, pointed to export-linked spikes: “When we started Citrus Freight, we realized that SMEs and farmer-entrepreneurs were struggling not just with costs and capacity, but with discovery itself—knowing when ships are available, what logistics would cost, and how to ensure perishables like mangoes or grapes could travel without spoilage. Today, we work with a growing community of over 30,000 farmers, helping them move from discovery to delivery with the lowest spoilage rates in the market.”

Expanding Capacity for the Surge

Handling festive season demand requires both structural readiness and flexible expansion. For LinkedLogi, it’s about agile partnerships. The company scales capacity through on-demand access to trucking, rail, and air cargo partners. Its role is to ensure retailers get reliable middle-mile movement exactly where they need it, without fixed overheads.

ClickPost takes a technology-first approach. “We don’t own fleets or warehouses. Retailers using ClickPost can onboard new carriers in under a day through our 500+ pre-built integrations and diversify their network quickly,” explained Vijay. “We also provide headroom alerts at a pincode or lane level so brands know in advance if a partner is reaching capacity.”

Prozo, on the other hand, relies on its expansive footprint. Structurally, it has built one of the largest fulfillment networks in India with 45 centers across 14 cities, spanning 2.5 million square feet. These are strategically located in hubs like Delhi NCR, Bhivandi near Mumbai, and Hoskote near Bengaluru. “We typically ramp our contractual workforce by 20–30 percent during the festive season, aligned closely with client projections,” noted Jakhar.

For Citrus Freight, capacity readiness is about leveraging underutilized cold storage and transport infrastructure. “We don’t own assets ourselves—we plug into 100+ cold storage partners and underutilized reefer trucks, matching demand in real time. This asset-light model helps us scale quickly during festive export peaks, especially for Gulf and Middle East markets where Indian produce demand is highest,” Barik added.

Tech at the Core of Festive Readiness

Technology is now inseparable from logistics planning, especially during peak seasons. LinkedLogi uses predictive demand models to pre-position fleet supply, IoT for real-time tracking, and automated allocation tools to cut dwell times at pickup and transit points.

At ClickPost, AI sits at the heart of operations—carrier allocation, predictive delivery dates, automated customer communication, NDR management, and proof of delivery. Meanwhile, Prozo’s ProWMS and ProShip platforms deliver scale and visibility. ProWMS offers pick-path optimization and inventory allocation while integrating seamlessly with SAP, Vinculum, and Unicommerce. ProShip provides a single dashboard across all courier partners, dynamically routing shipments and tracking COD, NDRs, and RTOs.

Citrus Freight is also betting on AI-driven platforms for perishables. “Our logistics pricing and routing engine works almost like Uber for exporters. It gives SMEs real-time visibility of rates, cold-chain availability, and shipment schedules—cutting discovery time from days to seconds,” Barik explained.

Battling Bottlenecks in High-Demand Zones

Performance in high-demand retail corridors is a balancing act of upstream efficiency and downstream agility. “We strengthen partner networks on major corridors, deploy alternate routes, and monitor shipments live to proactively resolve bottlenecks,” shared Somani.

ClickPost drives accuracy through visibility. “Our pincode heatmaps show brands which carriers are performing best in a given zone. Our delivery date engine ensures customers see realistic promise dates, avoiding escalations,” explained Vijay.

Jakhar emphasized Prozo’s multi-layered approach, “Upstream, our FCs are fully staffed with safety and loss-prevention teams. Downstream, our courier aggregator model allows us to switch volumes between partners if performance dips. Our Control Tower can trigger reallocation automatically if SLA thresholds are breached.”

Omnichannel Retail Enablement

The rise of BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up In Store) and same-day delivery models is reshaping festive logistics. Somani stated, “We don’t operate last-mile, but by ensuring faster first-mile pickups and middle-mile transfers, we make same-day and BOPIS models possible for our retail clients.”

ClickPost powers the technology backbone. “We integrate with OMS and WMS systems to coordinate ship-from-store or ship-to-store models, and trigger ‘ready for pickup’ alerts for customers,” said Vijay.

Prozo enables speed and reach. It drives same-day and next-day deliveries in metro clusters through dark stores and hyperlocal aggregators like ElasticRun and Blitz. In Tier II and III markets, its 4PL model extends brand reach without new capital investment.

Tackling Returns and Reverse Logistics

With festive sales come inevitable returns. LinkedLogi supports retailers by enabling faster middle-mile returns through the same contracted fleet, helping inventory move back to hubs for quicker resale.

ClickPost prepares brands with self-serve return portals, exchange-before-refund flows, and RTO analytics that surface why deliveries failed in the first place.

Jakhar underscored the importance of visibility. “Returns are managed on the same backbone as forward logistics. Our ProShip dashboard gives visibility across flows, while our Control Tower resolves disputes like shipments marked returned but not received.”

Balancing Speed and Sustainability

Despite the rush for speed, sustainability is becoming central to logistics strategies. “We consolidate loads, maximize multimodal usage—especially rail—and encourage fuel-efficient practices,” shared Somani.

Vijay added, “Our contribution comes through efficiency. Every failed delivery means wasted fuel. By improving first-attempt success rates and enabling courier selection based on EV fleets or consolidation practices, we directly cut carbon impact.”

At Prozo, shared infrastructure drives sustainability. “Because we run multi-client facilities, every truck, square foot, and piece of equipment is optimized across brands. Courier partners often pick up lots for multiple clients at once, reducing empty runs,” noted Jakhar.

Barik highlighted that reducing spoilage itself is a powerful sustainability lever. “Every percentage point of reduced spoilage in fresh exports means less waste, less carbon, and more farmer income. By consolidating loads and digitizing end-to-end, we ensure efficiency without adding capital-heavy infrastructure,” he said.