Who Will Own The Quick Economy? Inside India’s Fiercest Commerce War

It’s no longer about running out of groceries and the need for an immediate supply. Quick Commerce has evolved beyond the realms of time and the landscape has transformed into an ecosystem that serves a wider cross-section of consumers with a bigger basket of products.  

From cooking essentials to household gadgets and fashion accessories to clothes – everything can be sourced in flat 10 to 30 minutes. A sizzling 280% surge in sales over the last two years fetched a top line of $1 Bn for the three quick commerce leaders – Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart – in the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) and paved the way for ultra-fast food deliveries. 

The evolving dynamics are setting new benchmarks for speed and convenience with more players rushing in for a ride on the potential for rapid growth. While ecommerce giants joined the fray with Flipkart launching Minutes and Amazon piloting its Tez venture, brands like Nykaa and Myntra have begun weighing the possibilities.

It’s not a tale of the Goliaths alone. A slew of emerging startups, such as Slikk, Plazza, Blitz, WAAYU, Blip, Zing, and Swish, have zeroed in on segments like healthcare, fashion, shoes, and food to carve out their own space in this market. 

But, can quick commerce stand the test of time? The sustainability of the business model has sparked a debate among experts and analysts. 

“Quick commerce offers brands a distinct edge in scalability, provided they align their operations with consumer needs. Success isn’t limited to one category – sectors like fashion and electronics offer startups opportunities to carve their niche,” said Rohan Bhargava, who cofounded CashKaro and EarnKaro.

CashKaro is a cashback and rewards platform offering deals across more than 1,500 ecommerce sites and EarnKaro is its affiliate marketing arm, enabling users to earn commissions by sharing deals.

Quick commerce isn’t an immediate profit-making move, he said, but a long-term investment. “The rapid growth of market leaders shows that scaling is possible with sufficient resources and strategic execution. For smaller players, focussing on high-demand niche segments or on tier-II and tier-III cities can provide a foothold for scalable growth,” Bhargava said. 

Unlike traditional ecommerce that relies on some central warehouses, quick commerce requires expensive point-to-point logistics and stocking of inventory at multiple locations within the same city. 

“It calls for significant investments in warehouses and inventory, making it challenging to achieve positive unit economics across categories due to the high overhead costs. Given these expenses, cross-category quick commerce will only be viable in the long term, if it is supported by inventory already held by local retailers,” Bhargava said. 

Food Delivery: Undisputed King Of Q-Commerce  

Quick commerce mapped the shortest route to rule the mind through the stomach. Sitting at the core, food delivery holds sway over the entire game, and sets the game plan for quick commerce. While players like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart initially set the pace with grocery deliveries, the game has shifted to 10-15-minute food delivery options. From bootstrapped startups to deep-pocket giants – every player is vying for a slice of the pie.

If Zepto expanded its Zepto Cafe service for 10-minute food deliveries beyond Mumbai, Swiggy rolled out Bolt in six cities and then floated a new app, SNACC, for 15-minute delivery of quick bites and beverages. 

While the quick commerce biggies are clearly doubling down on food delivery as their core strength, their younger peers have gone full throttle rewriting the rules of the game of 10-minute food delivery. 

Founded in August 2024, Swish delivers fast food in just 10-15 minutes through its app. The startup has already garnered significant investor interest and it raised $2 Mn from venture capital firm Accel within a few months of its launch. It recorded over 5,000 downloads in barely a few months from Google Play Store and clocked 150-200 daily orders at an average order value of INR 250-300. 

Banking on the bustling food delivery space, WAAYU scripted its disruption blueprint of zero commission that challenges the dominance of platforms like Swiggy and Zomato. Founded in 2022 by childhood friends Mandar Lande and Anirudha Kotgire, WAAYU reported a revenue of INR 75 Lakh in FY24 and aims to reach INR 2 Cr in FY25. The startup has partnered with over 3,000+ restaurants across Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Navi Mumbai, with plans to expand to Bengaluru.

One-year-old Zing, a brainchild of Tarun Arora and Rachit Sahi, offers 10-minute food deliveries with the unique selling proposition of serving freshly made meals. Its competitors, according to the founders, focus more on ready-to-cook food items. 

The startup has surpassed 5,000 downloads on the Play Store. Starting with 8-10 orders a day, it now handles more than 100 daily orders, with an average order value of INR 220. Zing has achieved this with minimal customer acquisition costs. It plans to expand to 100 kitchens over the next year.

Jumping on the bandwagon, hyperlocal delivery startup Magicpin, too, rolled out a new 15-minute food delivery service, magicNOW, to deliver food within 15 minutes. 

“The demand for 10-minute delivery is primarily driven by urgent needs or impulse-driven purchases. This includes groceries and food as well as healthcare products. For other industries like fashion or electronics, customers are less likely to prioritise ultra-fast delivery over factors like cost or selection, making the 10-minute delivery model unsustainable in these sectors,” said Mandar Lande, who cofounded WAAYU.

Drug Delivery And The Blue Pill Of Regulatory Hurdles

Medicine delivery has always been a critical service, yet the sector has seen multiple disruptions and regulatory roadblocks over the years. The boom of epharmacy took off only during the lockdowns in Covid days when online pharmacies were declared essential services. 

The boom in epharmacy attracted many players, but they struggled to gain traction. Amazon launched Amazon Pharmacy, while Flipkart partnered with PharmEasy. Reliance sought to expand its grocery platform JioMart into medicine delivery and explore acquiring NetMeds. 

Despite being seasoned and solvent, these companies found it tough to navigate through the maze of regulatory frameworks, prescription verification, and opposition from offline chemists, which caused them delays and setbacks. The government, too, thought of limiting epharmacies to intermediaries, instead of allowing them to become direct drug sellers. This made their plight harder.

Four years on, the quick commerce model is trying to reshape medicine delivery. Companies like Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart and Flipkart Minutes have entered the healthcare space, aiming to leverage their core strength – ultrafast deliveries. Swiggy launched an epharmacy on Instamart through a partnership with Pharmeasy, while Flipkart Minutes looked to leverage sister company SastaSundar, though the partnership is over now.

Tata 1mg and Apollo 24/7 are also in various stages of piloting instant medicine delivery, with 1mg teaming up with Tatas-backed BigBasket for the service in select cities. Innovations are integral to the emergence and success of quick commerce. While Blinkit launched a 10-minute ambulance service, Apollo 24/7 has introduced a 19-minute delivery model. 

Younger startups like Plazza, Farmako, Medinos, and Medstown, too, have joined the race with promised delivery times ranging from 15 to 30 minutes. These companies are emerging with a healthcare-first, service-oriented approach, rather than focussing solely on logistics, and are offering services like free delivery within 30 minutes for medicines.

Aman Priyadarshi and Aniruddha Sen launched Plazza, a 24X7 medicine delivery platform, last November to deliver orders within 15-17 minutes. The Bengaluru-based platform partners with licensed pharmacies and runs Lifestores – franchise-based outlets offering inventory management and support services.

It provides access to over 10,000 health products, including prescription medicines, OTC drugs, and personal care items, with plans to expand to two more Lifestores. The startup has garnered over 1,000 users. 

“Quick commerce may not succeed in all industries, but almost everyone will give it a try before dismissing it. It’s an innovation in supply chain and retail, surpassing what India has experienced with modern and general trade. Industries with the oldest supply chains have the highest chances of success, provided the product or service can be kept close to the customer,” Priyadarshi said. 

Aman Bhandula and Kaishu Sahu claimed their Farmako has been delivering medicines in just 30 minutes since 2023. The Gurugram-based company has raised over $3 Mn and counts Y Combinator as a key investor.

Medicine deliveries, despite the criticality of the product, see no end to obstacles. The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has raised concerns about prescription verification and risks related to drug storage and quality control, citing the Swiggy-PharmEasy partnership as an example. 

India is yet to chalk out a regulatory framework for online pharmacies. Quick commerce has given the e-pharmacy businesses an opportunity to grow through logistics capabilities and expertise to forecast demand. While it’s still too early to determine the long-term viability of these models, drug delivery, from a consumer perspective, has the potential to surpass the growth of food and grocery deliveries.

Fashion Delivery: Cracking The Q-Commerce Code

If foods and meds can play the game, why not fashion? Fast-track delivery has caught the fancy of ecommerce marques like Myntra, too. Starting with a four-hour delivery model in cities like Bengaluru and Delhi, the company rolled out M-Now last November to deliver apparel in 30 minutes to 2 hours in parts of Bengaluru.

When Myntra gave the niche a try, it drove a host of new players with ultra-fast delivery models. Bengaluru-based Slikk, for instance, is focussing on fashion ecommerce with its 60-minute delivery model.

Founded by Akshay Gulati, Om Swami, and Bipin Singh, Slikk aims to meet the growing demand for instant gratification, a practice not common in fashion ecommerce yet, where high return rates are typical. It operates in parts of Bengaluru and serves around 100 users a day. To tackle the issue of high return rates in fashion shopping, Slikk offers a try-and-buy feature with a seven-day return policy, allowing customers to test their purchases and build trust with the brand.

Another recently launched startup, Blip, has come up with an even bolder claim of delivering in just 30 minutes. 

“Shopping for groceries and fashion are fundamentally different, with established mental models. Groceries are linked to platforms like Zepto, while fashion is tied to Myntra and Nykaa. This gives fashion-focussed marketplaces like ours a clear edge,” cofounder of Blip Ansh Agarwal told Inc42 in a recent interview.

Agarwal worked out the Blip business model with fellow cofounder Sarvesh Kedia last year with 30-minute delivery as its USP. It has partnered with brands tailored to specific localities, ensuring lightning-fast deliveries. The startup has created a user base of over 500 so far. It has an in-house delivery fleet, but that could change with expansion to other cities. The startup is handling 30-50 orders a day. 

Despite a strong consumer interest and immense potential, the segment has remained relatively unexplored by many so far. 

Buyers Cheer For Super Fast Deliveries

With ultra-fast deliveries becoming the new standard, customer expectations, too, have been set in sync. According to Dhruv Kapoor, partner at Anicut Capital, seeing this trend, a new wave of logistics startups is emerging, building their infrastructure specifically for quick commerce. 

“Smaller startups are increasingly partnering with these companies to ensure deliveries are made in the most time-efficient manner. This shift in logistics is set define the future of ecommerce,” Kapoor said.

Blitz, a startup founded in 2020 by Gaurav Piyush, Mayank Varshney, and Yash Sharma, provides logistics support to quick commerce across 10 cities, including Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Pune. It specialises in offering 60-minute deliveries from local stores and same-day shipments from urban warehouses.

Another unique launch is Snabbit. The year-old startup offers on-demand domestic services, including general cleaning, laundry, and other similar services, catering to infrequent, momentary needs rather than operating on a subscription basis. The platform allows users to book services up to three days in advance or with just a 10-minute notice for immediate needs, depending on the location. Snabbit’s app has gained over 10,000 downloads on the Google Play Store.

The two instances reflect how innovation is powering the startup brigade to thrash out business models that cover a wider basket of products and services. According to data collated by Inc42, the verticals with the highest potential for quick commerce include grocery, fruits and vegetables, staples, food delivery, pharmacy, and ambulance services. These sectors see increased demand due to the need for convenience, fast delivery, and essential services that consumers require on short notice. 

The ability to provide instant or near-instant delivery in these categories is particularly valuable, given their urgency and frequency in daily life.

There are also clear signs of transition in the wellness and nutrition category, with many startups boarding the quick commerce platforms. Nutrabay, for instance, has just partnered with quick commerce unicorn Zepto. Brands like Plix, MuscleBlaze, and Atom, too, have made their presence in the segment.

With its rapid pace of growth, quick commerce continues to disrupt the traditional ecommerce and delivery models. As more startups and smaller players innovate with faster delivery options, we see larger, more established companies integrating the capabilities into their operations and actively scaling their logistics and infrastructure to compete in this fast-paced market. 

This transition is driven by the need to meet the growing consumer expectations for faster and more convenient services. As we closely watch this space, it will be interesting to see how these major players navigate the challenges of scaling their quick commerce models, especially amid the ongoing debate about the sustainability of the quick commerce bubble.

[Edited By Kumar Chatterjee]