The Dashain–Tihar sales playbook for online sellers: Pasalos

Dashain and Tihar represent the single biggest retail season in Nepal. During this festive window, consumer spending surges as people buy new clothes, gifts, electronics, and household items.

For online merchants, this represents both a large opportunity and a logistical test. If you are not prepared, the festive rush can quickly collapse into stockouts, delayed shipments, failed cash-on-delivery collections, and angry customers.

This checklist covers stock counts, delivery cutoffs, payment checks, and campaign dates for the Dashain and Tihar rush.

Key 2026 dates

Ghatasthapana: around October 10-11, 2026.
Vijaya Dashami (Tika Day): around October 20-21, 2026.
Tihar (Laxmi Puja): around November 9, 2026.
Bhai Tika: around November 11, 2026.

Nepal's official calendar confirms the exact tithi for each day closer to the festival, and sources vary by a day this far out, so treat these as planning dates and confirm the final calendar (patro) once it's published. The countdown below is anchored to Tika Day on October 20; shift every milestone by a day if the confirmed date lands on the 21st instead.

6 Weeks Before Dashain (around September 8): Sourcing & Inventory

Waiting until the last minute to source your stock is a recipe for missed opportunities.

Forecast demand: Analyze what sold well during the previous months and last year's festive season. Order extra quantities of your best-sellers early.
Diversify suppliers: Supply chains slow down as the holidays approach, particularly if your goods are imported from China or India. Establish relationships with secondary suppliers so you have backups if your primary shipments are delayed.
Perform physical audits: Do not rely on estimates. Count every item on your shelves to ensure your database matches reality before the traffic picks up. If you sell at a counter and online, this is exactly what a shared-inventory POS keeps correct automatically.

4 Weeks Before Dashain (around September 22): Planning Marketing & Promotions

Nepali social media feeds will be crowded with ads and sales announcements. To stand out, you need a clear promotional calendar.

Set your discount strategy: Flat discounts (e.g., "रु 500 off on orders over रु 5,000") and bundles (e.g., "Buy a kurta and get a matching bag for half price") tend to perform better than thin percentage discounts.
Pre-shoot creative content: Produce product photos, TikTok clips, and Instagram reels showing the festive collections. Prepare your graphics and social captions in advance so you can schedule posts during the rush.
Focus on loyalty: Send a personal Viber or WhatsApp message to your existing customers offering them early access to your festive catalog. Word-of-mouth is powerful; rewarding your regular buyers builds long-term value.

2 Weeks Before Dashain (around October 6): Logistics & Delivery Coordination

Delivery is the biggest bottleneck during Dashain. Road congestion increases, courier companies face staff shortages, and workers return to their home districts.

Confirm courier schedules: Meet with your delivery partners (e.g., Pathao, NCM, Upaya) and confirm their operations calendar. Write down their final pickup dates for deliveries inside Kathmandu Valley and major cities across all 7 provinces. Not sure which courier covers which district? See our courier comparison guide.
Publish clear delivery cutoffs: A workable target is "order by October 13 for Valley delivery, October 10 for outside the Valley," adjusted to your actual courier's Dashain-week schedule. Post it on your website header and social media profiles well before the rush, not during it.
Establish local pickup options: If you have a physical pasal or office, encourage customers to choose "Local Pickup" during checkout. It guarantees they get their items on time and saves you delivery costs.

1 Week Before Dashain (around October 13): The COD & Confirmation Routine

Cash on Delivery (COD) returns can spike during festivals if customers travel or buy from another merchant who delivers faster.

Call to confirm every COD order: Before packing any order, send a WhatsApp confirmation or place a quick phone call to verify the customer’s address and confirm they will be home to receive the package. If they do not answer after multiple attempts, hold the shipment. For the full routine, see our guide to cutting COD refusals.
Optimize confirmation steps: Make sure your checkout flow has clear fields for district, local landmarks, and active mobile numbers.
Track return rates daily: If a specific courier is experiencing high failure rates in a particular province, temporarily shift shipments to another provider.

Tihar & New Year (November 8-11): Keeping the Momentum

The festive season doesn't end with Dashain. Use the roughly two-and-a-half-week window between Vijaya Dashami and Tihar to run follow-up campaigns.

Transition to gifting themes: Tihar is heavily focused on family gifts, lights, colors, and sweets. Adjust your homepage banners and social media creative to reflect Tihar themes.
Run last-minute Valley promotions: Since deliveries outside the Valley will be difficult between festivals, focus your marketing budgets on same-day or next-day delivery campaigns within Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur.
Clear excess stock: Use post-festival sales to clear out seasonal items that did not sell, offering deep discounts to make room for winter inventory.

Build your festive store on a solid foundation

During the festive rush, manual replies and bank-account checks take time away from packing orders and coordinating with couriers. Automate those repeated checks where you can, and make sure your checkout offers the payment methods Nepali customers actually use before the traffic arrives.

By using Pasalos, you automate the heavy lifting:

One stock count: The same inventory updates automatically whether you sell at your counter or online.
Instant payment verification: eSewa and Khalti orders update status automatically so you can pack immediately without checking screenshots.
Delivery calculator: Local delivery zones and courier rates are calculated instantly at checkout based on the customer’s location.