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Digikala, Iran's leading e-commerce platform, reported a remarkable 90% revenue growth in the Persian calendar year 1403 (2024 - 2025). This surge occurred alongside a 62% increase in order volumes, marking significant progress as the company expanded into new domains such as physical retail stores, digital gold trading, and resuming car sales after an eight-year hiatus.
The report also provides a comprehensive overview of Digikala's operations at the close of the year. Hosting over 466,169 active sellers, the platform now offers an inventory of 14.5 million unique products. On average, it attracts 5.5 million daily visitors and records 4.4 million product searches per day. To support this activity, Digikala processes up to one million items daily through its workforce of 10,510 employees and network of 959 logistics centers nationwide.
Economic Shifts Alter Consumer Behavior
Economic fluctuations and rising currency exchange rates significantly influenced Iranian consumer habits in the last year. Smartphone sales dropped across all price tiers due to soaring costs, with flagship models seeing an 11.81% decline, budget phones falling by 10.89%, and mid-range devices decreasing by 10.41%. Despite this downturn, budget smartphones remained the top-selling category.
Conversely, investment-oriented purchases saw a sharp rise. Gold bars experienced a staggering 126% growth in orders, followed by gold jewelry at 111%, and coins at 108%. These trends reflect consumers' efforts to safeguard their assets amidst economic uncertainties.
Cultural Events Shape Search Trends
National incidents and cultural milestones heavily influenced search behaviors on Digikala's platform. For instance, searches for “Raisi” spiked following a helicopter crash involving Iran’s president in May. Seasonal events like Yalda Night boosted searches for “Hafez Divan,” while Mother’s Day and Father’s Day keywords dominated January queries.
Viral social media content also impacted search patterns; videos featuring storm matches or curling irons led to notable product interest spikes during specific months.
Explosive Growth in Online Grocery Shopping
Online grocery shopping became mainstream among Iranian users in the last year, with orders surging by an extraordinary 134%. First-time buyers increased by an impressive 264%, signalling widespread adoption.
Essential goods like cooking oil (96%), legumes (66%), and rice (55%) also saw significant growth as digital grocery shopping became habitual for many households.
Top-Tier Purchases Include Luxury Gold Transactions
The highest-value transaction on Digikala last year was a staggering purchase of gold worth IRR35 billion ($700K). Users from Bushehr province recorded the most expensive shopping baskets for the second consecutive year.
Saturday Peaks in Traffic and Orders
Saturdays emerged as the busiest day for both visits and purchases on Digikala’s platform. Daily traffic averaged at approximately five million visitors, with peak purchasing times occurring around midnight.
Digikala users contributed nearly twelve million reviews last year, making customer feedback integral to purchasing decisions on the platform.
