Diwali falls on 8 November 2026, with Dhanteras on 6 November. Amazon has announced that its Great Indian Festival starts on 8 October. That leaves a short window to get festive creatives made, approved and live on listings and ads.
This post is for brand owners and marketing heads who have not started yet. It covers what last year's festive numbers say, what to produce first, a week-by-week plan, and where CGI helps versus where a real photoshoot is still the better call.
What the 2025 festive data tells us
RedSeer, a consulting firm that tracks Indian e-commerce, published numbers for the first 11 days of the 2025 festive sales that began on 22 September. These are 2025 figures. A 2026 report was not available when this was written, so treat them as a reference point and not a forecast.
Gross merchandise value (GMV) crossed ₹60,000 crore in the first 11 days, nearly 3.5 times a normal period and up 20 to 22 percent on the previous year.
About 90 million shoppers took part, spending close to ₹7,000 each on average.
60 to 65 percent of shoppers came from Tier 2 and smaller cities.
Smartphones and appliances made up 60 to 65 percent of sales. Fashion grew only in the low single digits, which RedSeer linked to discounting spread across the year.
In the same update, RedSeer's Nikhil Dalal said home, beauty and possibly ethnic wear were expected to spike on traditional e-commerce in the later phase, and that quick commerce was expected to ride gifting momentum around Diwali. That is RedSeer's expectation from October 2025, not a measured result.
What this means for creative planning: demand is not one spike. Electronics and appliances brands face their rush early. Home, beauty and gifting categories have more of their moment in the weeks right before the festival, so their creatives can still make it if production starts now.
Two kinds of festive content
It helps to separate the work into two buckets, because they have different deadlines.
Sale-event content is what shoppers see while browsing during the big marketplace sales: listing images, A+ content, banners and performance ads. It has to be live when the traffic arrives.
Gifting and campaign content is built for the days around Dhanteras and Diwali: gift sets, combo packs, "gift for family" angles and social creatives. It matters most in the final two weeks.
What to produce first
If budget or time is limited, this order makes sense for most brands:
Your top five to ten SKUs. These already carry most of your revenue, so a better listing image on them pays back fastest.
Compliant main images, plus one or two festive secondary images. Amazon's seller-forum guidance asks for a pure white background on the main image, so festive props, lights and diyas belong in the secondary images and ads, not the first image.
Ad creative variants. The same product in two or three festive scenes and the sizes your ad platforms need.
Gift set and combo visuals. Bundles are hard to photograph in every combination, and this is where a 3D model that can be rearranged is most useful.
A short product video, only after the above is done.
A week-by-week plan counting back from Diwali
This is a suggested schedule, not an industry standard. Adjust it to your category and your studio's actual turnaround, which you should ask for in writing.
Window | What gets done |
|---|
About 5 weeks out | Freeze the SKU list. Gather product samples, CAD files or reference photos. Pick one festive theme per product line. |
4 weeks out | 3D models built and approved. First test render shared for feedback. |
3 weeks out | Final renders for hero SKUs. Festive scene approved. Listing images uploaded for marketplace review. |
2 weeks out | Ad variants and gifting visuals delivered. Campaigns scheduled. |
Final week | Swap and monitor only. No new production. Keep a small buffer for last-minute fixes. |
The buffer in the last week matters more than it looks. Marketplace image changes can take time to review and go live, and a rejected image late in the season costs real sales.
Where CGI helps for festive work
Once a product exists as a 3D model, it can be lit and placed in new scenes without another shoot. For a festive campaign that means one model can become a diya-lit evening scene, a gift-box scene and a clean white-background shot, with colour variants added later.
It also suits products that are hard to photograph well, such as reflective steel, glass, and electronics with screens and glossy surfaces. And it helps when a product is not manufactured yet, because the render can be made from design files.
The same logic applies to bundles. Instead of photographing each hamper configuration, the components are rendered and arranged in software.
Where photography is still the better choice
CGI is not the right answer for everything. Fabric drape, food texture, jewellery with fine stone work and products where the real flaws and grain of the material are the selling point are usually better shot for real, or at least shot in part. A hybrid often works: photograph the flagship item and render the extra colours and scenes from a model built off it.
If you are unsure, test with a small batch. Pick five to ten SKUs, compare the cost and delivery time of both approaches, and look at click-through and conversion before committing the whole catalogue.
What to send a studio to get started quickly
The list of SKUs, in priority order
CAD or 3D files if you have them, otherwise a physical sample or clear reference photos from all sides
Brand colours, logo files and any existing listing images you like
The marketplaces and ad sizes you need
Your last date for delivery, counted back from the sale start
The more complete this brief is, the fewer revision rounds it takes.
How Smapit can help
Smapit is a Gurugram-based studio that builds 3D models, product renders, animations and e-commerce listing content for brands in India, the US and the UAE. If you have a festive deadline, send us your SKU list and we will share a sample render for one of your products so you can judge the quality before committing. You can request it through the contact page.
Frequently asked questions
When is Diwali in 2026?
Diwali falls on 8 November 2026, with Dhanteras on 6 November.
When does Amazon's Great Indian Festival 2026 start?
Amazon announced a start of 8 October 2026 in September. The end date had not been announced at the time of writing, so check Amazon's seller and sale pages for current details.
Is it too late to make new creatives for Diwali?
Not if the scope is tight. Focusing on your top SKUs and one festive theme is realistic in a few weeks. A full catalogue refresh is not.
Can festive props go in my Amazon main image?
No. Amazon's main image guidance calls for a pure white background, so put festive scenes in secondary images, A+ content and ads. Confirm the current requirements in Seller Central before uploading.
Should I use CGI or a photoshoot for festive creatives?
It depends on the product. CGI works well for hard goods, electronics and bundles. Photography is usually better for fabric, food and fine jewellery. A hybrid often works best.
Sources: RedSeer, "E-commerce Festive Sale Trends: 1st leg (11 day) closes at INR 60K to 62K Crore," 6 October 2025; the same RedSeer update for the second-phase expectations; Outlook Business, "Amazon Great Indian Festival 2026 To Begin October 8," 22 September 2026; Amazon Seller Central forum post on main image requirements (account "TaylorR_Amazon", undated); Diwali and Dhanteras 2026 dates from panchang sites (Smartpuja, Dekho Panchang, Kissht), which agree on 8 and 6 November.
