Tata’s Neu Looks To Ride The Quick Commerce Wave

With demand for instant deliveries picking up pace in India, Tata group is looking to venture into the turf as major players like Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart and Flipkart’s ‘Minutes’ are aggressively trying to lure away consumers from large ecommerce platforms.

As per ET, the Tata group’s ecommerce venture, Neu, is reportedly launching “Neu Flash” in the quick commerce segment, for select users with offerings in groceries, electronics and fashion.

The report further said that Neu Flash will rely on BigBasket for grocery deliveries as it shifts to a quick-commerce model, while Croma will manage electronics and phones, and Tata Cliq will handle fashion and lifestyle products, starting with select SKUs.

Sources also told ET that extensive work is underway to bring Tata Cliq onto both Neu Flash and BigBasket, with strategic brand partnerships in progress. 

While Tata-owned e-pharmacy 1mg offers a few-hour delivery in areas like Delhi NCR, it hasn’t fully launched on Neu Flash yet. However, certain essentials, like headache medications and protein whey, are available for 10-minute delivery. Additionally, Tata may leverage Croma’s retail network for some of these deliveries, already used for same-day and next-day services.

This move marks the latest effort by the steel-to-salt conglomerate to capture online shoppers. Meanwhile, competitors like Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto have already established strong brand recognition and secured a significant share of the market as early entrants. So far, these three reported over $1 Bn in revenue for FY24 while a report estimates that the quick commerce industry in India saw sales surge by 280% over the last two years.

Over the last six months, quick commerce players have expanded operations and diversified their catalogue to meet growing consumer demand. In the case of Blinkit, its gross order value (GOV) surged 130% to INR 4,923 Cr in Q1 FY25 from INR 2,140 Cr in the corresponding quarter last year. Sequentially, it increased by 22.2% from INR 4,027 Cr in Q4 FY24.

Currently, Blinkit operates 639 dark stores across the country, with the average daily GOV per store rising to INR 10 Lakh, compared to INR 6 Lakh from 383 stores previously. The company aims to scale the number of dark stores to 2,000 by the end of 2026 while maintaining profitability.