Can Ecommerce Giants Scale Quick Commerce Without Setting Their Profits On Fire?

Over the past decade, India’s digital revolution has transformed nearly every aspect of daily life — from how we pay to how we learn and even consume today. Amid this, the great Indian ecommerce sector has emerged as a clear winner, thanks to an ever-growing number of smartphone and internet users leveraging cheap data in the country. 

As of 2024, Indian had 1 Bn+ smartphone users and 886 Mn+ internet users (397 Mn+ urban and 488 Mn+ rural). The number of smartphone and internet users is expected to grow by 50% and 35%, respectively, by 2030.

Investment in the sector has been equally impressive. Between 2014 and 2024, Indian ecommerce startups raised a record $35 Bn+ in funding and produced 25 unicorns. Overall, the Indian ecommerce market is expected to grow from $128 Bn+ in 2024 to $400 Bn+ in 2030, according to Inc42’s latest The State Of Indian Ecommerce Report, H1 2025. 

With capital not being a constraint, Indian startups have consistently evolved to keep pace with shifting consumer preferences. This evolution in the ecommerce space started with names like Zepto, Blinkit, and Instamart, which, in a bid to cater to their customers’ needs for instant gratification, have made them more demanding. As a result, consumers today expect everything at lightning-fast speeds. This has led to the rise in impulse purchases and convenience-first shopping.

A 2024 survey of Indian online shoppers revealed that 75% of respondents acknowledged an increase in impulsive purchases, proving a major shift in consumer behaviour — from pre-planned purchases to spontaneous, unplanned buying.

In fact, an array of products that would traditionally sell on ecommerce platforms are now increasingly available on quick commerce platforms, which have expanded far beyond just groceries, embracing electronics items. 

While groceries and daily essentials account for a bulk of quick commerce orders today, the real test and opportunity for ecommerce marketplaces in terms of quick delivery lies in handling peak demand periods. 

According to market experts, the ability to fulfil high-intent purchases instantly could be the next frontier for many of the existing quick commerce players.

Who Is Fuelling The Quick Commerce Growth Engines?

New-age consumers are clearly opting for convenience. The report, powered by Mobavenue, reveals that 69% of Indian internet users prefer 10-minute quick deliveries over next-day deliveries, especially when it comes to shopping for groceries. The adoption of quick commerce is particularly high among those aged between 18 and 35, with 60% of users falling within the age bracket of 18-25 years. 

What makes this equation interesting is the demographic dividend of the country. India is home to over 600 Mn individuals in the 18-35 demographic. This group also accounts for nearly 42% of the country’s total population, making it a ripe base for rapid delivery services.

Piggybacking on this powerful battalion of consumers, the Indian quick commerce segment is projected to become a $40 Bn market by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 37% from 2024. This growth rate is nearly twice the projected growth of India’s overall ecommerce market by 2030. 

Consequently, traditional ecommerce companies are now scrambling to adapt to meet the demand for instant gratification.

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Ecommerce Players Desperate To Enter The Q-Commerce Arena 

With quick commerce eating into their turf, traditional ecommerce giants are hustling to defend their territories, especially in core categories like electronics. 

For instance, Flipkart introduced its 10-minute delivery service last year, starting with Bengaluru. Under Flipkart Minutes, the company now delivers groceries, electronics, smartphones and more in about 10 minutes.

Amazon, too, has ramped up its fast delivery efforts. Earlier this year, the company launched a pilot programme in select areas of Bengaluru, offering deliveries in just 10 minutes under the brand name “Amazon Now.” 

The service began with four dark stores, but Amazon now plans to scale up this effort aggressively by opening 300 dark stores across Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai by the end of this year.

Despite the efforts, market analysts feel that traditional ecommerce players are late to the quick commerce party. However, they could still emerge successful if they act swiftly and execute well.

“Ecommerce natives like Amazon took time to fully commit to the 10-minute model. While they have been running a pilot since early this year, the pace has been slow. Unlike Blinkit’s swift relaunch post-acquisition, Amazon and Flipkart are still testing the waters, both in how aggressively to reach customers and how much to invest upfront,” said Satish Meena, partner, research firm Datum Intelligence.

Alongside, vertical ecommerce players like Nykaa and Myntra are also rushing to be part of the quick commerce trend, as fast delivery platforms have already started eating into their market. Notably, a new wave of fashion-focused quick commerce platforms like Slick and Blip are hell-bent on dethroning the old titans in segments like beauty, personal care (BPC) and fashion.

Call it anticipation, Myntra has launched its own quick commerce service, M-Now, in December 2024, showing its commitment to 30-minute deliveries across categories such as fashion, beauty, accessories, and home essentials.

Meanwhile, listed ecommerce unicorn Nykaa has also entered the race with the launch of its one-hour delivery service in Bengaluru.

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But, according to Karan Taurani, SVP at Elara Capital, this shift is not going to be easy. “There needs to be major strategic and management changes to realign the business with the quick commerce model. Finally, there’s a need for deep market insight, localisation, product assortment, and understanding what works where, which requires intensive data analysis,” he said.

But, The Logistics Backbone Needs Strengthening 

With the quick commerce game no longer restricted to ecommerce platforms, it has now become a crucial chapter to excel in for logistics players, too.

As more and more customers get used to receiving everything from groceries to gadgets within less than 30 minutes, logistics players are now being compelled to up the ante or back off for good. This is because FMCG and D2C brands are under intense pressure to deliver and want speed as a service from their logistics partners.

In January, Delhivery launched Rapid Commerce — a quick commerce service that allows D2C brands to serve the instant gratification needs of their customers in under two hours. 

To achieve this, Delhivery is creating Rapid Stores, a shared dark store infrastructure within metros to enable hyperlocal fulfilment. Delhivery intends to expand this product offering to Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Pune, and other metro cities this year.

IPO-listed logistics unicorn Shadowfax has already been providing same-day or next-day delivery services to D2C and ecommerce companies. With 2,500+ city reach and 1.5 Mn+ daily deliveries, it’s now refining its stack to process high-frequency, high-urgency orders.

Moving on, Shiprocket has also ventured into the quick commerce space. It now provides same-day delivery in major metros such as Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.

However, to cater to the growing demand for instant deliveries, these logistics players will have to adopt a different approach.  

“They will have to build a separate delivery model, serving within a five-km radius from a dark store. The earlier model of having a large warehouse outside the city, delivering across town throughout the day, won’t work here. The dark store needs to be close to the customer, so that the delivery person can pick up and deliver fast,” Meena said. He added that this model will also work for Amazon and Flipkart, the marketplaces that fulfil a majority of orders without 3PLs.

The Woes Of Quick Deliveries

While Meena’s point is valid, adopting the dark store model could significantly raise costs for ecommerce giants. As per the Inc42 report, last-mile delivery alone accounts for over 50% of fulfilment expenses, and reverse logistics for time-sensitive products adds further financial pressure.

Moreover, same-day delivery remains limited to metro cities. In addition, essentials like groceries and medicines still make up nearly half of all quick commerce orders. Then, when it comes to categories like electronics, customers often prioritise a hassle-free after-sales experience over rapid deliveries.

All in all, when it comes to speed as a baseline expectation, ecommerce platforms need to focus on building sustainable, efficient, and customer-centric supply chains. Burning too much on an unstable short-term approach will eat into the top and bottom lines.  

Meena feels that almost everyone is burning a lot of money to stay in the market, which is largely skewed towards groceries. Also, beyond the top 10 cities, demand is not on par.    

“That’s why the focus is on going deeper in these metros, capturing as much household spending as possible. It’s also one of the reasons even Amazon is treading carefully,” he added.

Despite its promise, quick commerce continues to be a cash guzzler. However, to cater to the country’s changing dynamics in the consumer space, every player, either legacy or new, is ready to take this leap, even if it means bleeding in the short term to secure long-term loyalty and market share. 

Nevertheless, the next few quarters will be crucial for the Indian quick commerce players. Bogged in operational and financial challenges, will these players eventually fall prey to their speed or evolve into a sustainable business, serving beyond metros and groceries?

[Edited By Shishir Parasher]

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