Amazon India Mulls Launch Of Its Quick Commerce Service ‘Tez’ Soon

Ecommerce major Amazon’s Indian arm is reportedly gearing up to launch its quick commerce delivery service, code named Tez, by late December or early next year. 

The company is looking to start the service with groceries and daily essentials.

As per an ET report, the launch of Tez will mark Amazon’s global debut in the quick commerce segment.

The initiative will be discussed during Amazon India’s next monthly review in the first week of December, ahead of its annual Smbhav event, the report added.

Amazon is actively working with internal and external stakeholders on the high-priority quick commerce project, sources told ET. 

The firm is also making fresh hires for this project. Amazon’s India grocery and essentials team described the project as a ‘greenfield, grounds-up initiative for an upcoming and fast-growing ecommerce space in India’, according to a job post.

The final name for the quick commerce service is yet to be decided, sources added.

Earlier, in August it was reported that Amazon is looking to launch its quick commerce services in India in the first quarter of next year.

“They (Amazon) want to launch it sooner than the end of first quarter in India. Quick commerce is where all the action is if you are a meaningful consumer internet platform. They are also following the same model as others—setting up dark stores, figuring out the details of stock-keeping units (SKUs) and categories, and putting logistics infrastructure in place,” another source told ET.

While Amazon India has its own delivery network in India, it has also engaged with other logistics players for quick delivery services.

Amazon claims it is already gearing up for the launch by enhancing its grocery and essentials supply chain through Amazon Fresh, with a current focus on delivering orders within 20 to 30 minutes.

Earlier this year, its grocery delivery arm expanded its footprint to 130 cities, including Ambala, Aurangabad, Hoshiarpur, Dharwad, and Una, doubling its presence from about 50 Indian cities a year ago. 

Meanwhile, Amazon India has also been pushing for same-day deliveries across various product lines for its Prime membership customers as it lines up quick commerce foray.

The development comes at a time when the quick commerce segment has seen rapid growth in popularity over the last few years.

The proof of this is that the first movers in the space Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto have together reported over $1 Bn in revenue in FY24 while a report estimates that the quick commerce industry in India saw sales surge by 280% over the last two years.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s rival Flipkart entered with its ‘Minutes’ service. Tata-owned BigBasket is also moving to a quick commerce-only format, and will transition from slotted deliveries to the on-demand model soon.