Tata-Owned BigBasket To Fully Pivot To Quick Commerce Model Next Month

Amid rapid growth in demand for instant delivery services, Tata Digital-owned BigBasket is reportedly pivoting from being an online grocery delivery platform to becoming a full-scale quick commerce platform.

Starting next month, BigBasket will exclusively offer 10-30 minute delivery of grocery and non-grocery items, including large appliances and other expensive products through its quick commerce arm BBNow, ET reported.

The Hari Menon and Vipul Parekh-led company has already rolled out a pilot of its rapid on-demand delivery services in select locations in Bengaluru and will expand it pan-India in September, the report added.

It is pertinent to note that BigBasket forayed into the quick commerce space back in 2022 with the launch of BBNow. 

Currently, BBNow offers 15-30 minute delivery of about 3,000 daily essentials across categories like fruits and vegetables, cooking essentials, household essentials, beauty products, snacks and pet products.

 This move comes on the back of BigBasket completely shifting its focus on its quick commerce vertical BBNow, which now account for 50% of the company’s overall sales.

BigBasket reportedly aims to clock $1.5 Bn in sales in the ongoing fiscal year (FY25) and expects BBNow to alone account for 66% of the target, or around $1 Bn, as per the report.

While the grocery delivery unicorn currently operates some 400 odd dark stores, it plans to scale this number up to 600. Further, BigBasket also intends to more than double its stock operating units (SKUs) to 25K-30K from 10K.

To cater to the growing demand for quick on-demand delivery, BigBasket reportedly plans to operate “multiple dark stores in clusters” and link to them a single warehouse that would serve a wide range of SKUs.

It was also earlier reported that BigBasket is planning to launch its initial public offering (IPO) by 2025. Its competitor Swiggy, which operates the quick commerce service Instamart, is also eyeing a public listing this year at a $15 Bn valuation.

BigBasket’s full-scale pivot to quick commerce comes amid rising demand for instant delivery services and a gold rush into startups operating in the space, with Zepto recently raising $665 Mn from marquee inventors such as Glade Brook, Nexus and Lightspeed.

Meanwhile, Zomato-owned Blinkit’s revenue skyrocketed 145% year-on-year to INR 942 Cr in Q1 FY25 while its gross order value (GOV) jumped 130% YoY to INR 4,923 Cr in Q1 FY25

The quick commerce euphoria seems to have reached a fever pitch with ecommerce giant Flipkart re-entering the burgeoning sector with the launch of Flipkart Minutes. Reliance, too, is planning to make its entry in the quick commerce space through its digital commerce arm JioMart.

Notably, India’s quick commerce market grew 77% YoY on average to reach $2.8 Bn in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2023. In comparison, the e-commerce market has been, on average, growing at 13-14%.