Every year, the festive season from October to January is the biggest sales window for local shops across India. Diwali. Dussehra. Christmas. New Year. Weddings.
Customers are spending. They want mithai, gifts, new clothes, catered food, flower decorations, and home essentials. The question is: do they think of your shop – or of Swiggy Instamart?
Last year, three shop owners on chotu had their best festive season ever. Here’s exactly what they did – and how you can copy their strategy before this season begins.
Story 1: The Sweet Shop That Took ₹2 Lakh in Diwali Pre-Orders
Mithailal Sweets has been in the family for three generations. Traditional recipes, loyal customers, and a reputation that needs no advertising. But this Diwali, the owner – Deepak – wanted to do something different.
“Every year, the last 3 days before Diwali are madness. Customers come, they want boxes, we run out of stock, everyone’s frustrated. I wanted to change that.”
Deepak’s Diwali strategy on chotu
- Created a special ‘Diwali Collection’ section in his chotu catalog – 3 weeks before Diwali
- Listed 5 mithai box options: Small (₹250), Medium (₹450), Large (₹750), Premium (₹1,200), Corporate Bulk (₹5,000+)
- Added photos of beautifully arranged boxes with descriptions: ‘Assorted 12-piece box – Kaju Katli, Motichoor Ladoo, Badam Burfi’
- Set a deadline: ‘Pre-order before Oct 28. Last delivery: Nov 1.’
- Shared the catalog link in 4 WhatsApp groups: colony group, family group, previous customer broadcast, and local business group
“By the 25th of October, I had ₹2.1 lakh in pre-orders written in my WhatsApp. I knew exactly what to make.”
The result
- Zero stock shortage – he made exactly what was ordered
- Zero last-minute rush chaos – 80% of orders were fulfilled before Diwali eve
- He used remaining capacity to fulfill walk-in customers on the day
- First time in 30 years, he closed his shop on Diwali evening and celebrated with his family
Story 2: The Home Food Cook Who Built a Dussehra Catering Business
Sunita Devi started selling home-cooked tiffins from her kitchen two years ago. 20 customers, word of mouth, and her chotu catalog. She was making steady income but hadn’t thought big.
Then a customer asked: ‘Can you do food for our building’s Dussehra event? 80 people?’
Sunita had never done catering. But she had chotu – and a clear catalog of what she made and what it cost per person.
How Sunita handled her first catering order
- She created a ‘Special Events’ section in her chotu catalog: ‘Catering packages from ₹80/person’
- Listed a sample Dussehra thali: 3 sabzis, dal, rice, roti, pickle, papad, sweet – ₹100/person minimum 30 people
- The customer shared her chotu link with 3 other building committees in the area
- Within 2 weeks, she had 4 catering bookings – totalling over ₹40,000 in the festive month
“I didn’t even know catering was possible for me. But when customers saw my catalog, they saw the possibilities themselves.”
What Sunita did after Dussehra
- She added a ‘Wedding & Event Menu’ to her catalog permanently
- She raised her per-person price from ₹80 to ₹120 after the first successful event
- She now has a waitlist for festive catering – and it’s not even November yet
Story 3: The Florist Who Made Valentine’s Week His Biggest Week of the Year
Flowers are seasonal. Ravi, who runs a small flower shop, knew that Valentine’s Day was coming – but every year he’d scramble to take orders on scraps of paper, forget customisations, and deal with angry customers.
The year he joined chotu, everything changed.
Ravi’s Valentine’s Week catalog strategy
- Added a temporary ‘Valentine’s Day’ section to his catalog in late January
- Created pre-packaged bouquet options: ‘Red Roses (12) ₹350’, ‘Mixed Bouquet ₹250’, ‘Premium Box Arrangement ₹650’
- Added an option: ‘Custom bouquet – WhatsApp us with your budget’
- Put a note: ‘Pre-order before Feb 12 to guarantee your flowers. Limited stock.’
- Shared the link in local colony groups with a simple message: ‘Valentine’s flowers ready Order before stock runs out: [link]’
“I had 140 orders confirmed 3 days before Valentine’s Day. I knew exactly how much stock to buy. Not a single flower wasted.”
The numbers
- Previous year (no chotu): ₹18,000 in Valentine’s week sales
- With chotu: ₹52,000 in Valentine’s week sales – nearly 3x
- Zero wasted stock. Zero missed orders. Zero chaos.
Your Festive Season Action Plan – Starting Today
Whether you sell sweets, food, flowers, gifts, or anything else – the festive season is your biggest opportunity. Here’s how to prepare, step by step:
6–8 weeks before the festival
- Create a ‘Festive Special’ or seasonal section in your chotu catalog
- Add photos of your best festive products or packages with clear pricing
- Set a pre-order deadline to create urgency
4 weeks before
- Send your first WhatsApp broadcast with your catalog link: ‘Festive orders now open’
- Post your chotu link on WhatsApp status every 3 days
- Ask 5 loyal customers to share your catalog link with their friends and family
2 weeks before
- Send a reminder broadcast: ‘Pre-order slots filling up fast – book yours’
- Update your catalog with any sold-out items marked
- Prepare your packaging and logistics based on pre-orders received
1 week before
- Final broadcast: ‘Last chance to pre-order. We close bookings on [date].’
- Confirm all pending orders via WhatsApp
- Focus on fulfillment – the hard work is done
The Common Thread: All Three Shops Did One Thing Right
Deepak, Sunita, and Ravi are different people. Different cities. Different products. But they all did the same thing:
They made it easy for customers to order – before customers even thought to look elsewhere.
A digital catalog that’s always visible, always shareable, always up to date – that’s the difference between a hectic festive season and a profitable one.
The festivals are coming. Your customers are going to spend. The only question is: will they spend at your shop or somewhere else?
Get your festive catalog ready on chotu today. Setup takes 2 seconds. Profits last all season.