By Titik Puspa 
Indian startups have meticulously cultivated a consumer habit, acclimatizing millions to the convenience of receiving groceries and everyday essentials within minutes of placing an order. Now, Walmart-owned e-commerce behemoth Flipkart is rapidly bridging the gap with these pioneering quick-commerce players, all while global rival Amazon intensifies its own aggressive push into the instant delivery arena. The race for ultrafast delivery in India is not just heating up; it’s transforming the landscape of online retail, compelling even the most established players to adapt or risk being left behind.
Flipkart Minutes, the e-commerce giant’s strategic entry into the hyper-fast delivery segment, which officially debuted in August 2024, is demonstrating remarkable traction. Sources familiar with the operation revealed to TechCrunch that the service is now processing an impressive daily order volume of 1.1 million to 1.2 million. This represents a significant surge from approximately 390,000 to 400,000 orders per day recorded in November. This burgeoning volume places Flipkart Minutes on the cusp of challenging Swiggy’s Instamart, the current frontrunner in daily orders, which is reportedly handling around 1.4 million orders daily, according to an individual privy to its operations. The speed of Flipkart’s ascent is particularly noteworthy given its status as a relative newcomer to a market segment that has been long dominated by established players like Instamart, Blinkit, and Zepto.
The quick commerce ecosystem in India has a relatively recent but impactful history. Food delivery giant Swiggy ventured into grocery delivery with Instamart in 2020, leveraging its extensive logistics network and customer base. The following year, Zepto emerged, promising lightning-fast 10-minute grocery deliveries, a concept that quickly captured consumer imagination during the pandemic. Blinkit, formerly known as Grofers, traces its origins back even further to 2013, initially operating as an online grocery platform before pivoting to the quick commerce model. These three entities have collectively cemented their positions as India’s premier quick-commerce platforms, setting high benchmarks for speed and efficiency.
Despite Flipkart’s rapid growth, Blinkit continues to hold a commanding lead in market share, with estimates from market research firm Datum Intelligence placing its daily order volume between 3.4 million and 3.6 million. Zepto follows closely, processing an estimated 2.4 million to 2.6 million orders daily. However, Flipkart’s aggressive expansion strategy is clearly narrowing the gap with Instamart, which, while substantial in scale, is the smallest of the three established leaders in terms of daily order volume.
Swiggy’s Instamart remains a formidable force, boasting a significant operational footprint. Earlier this month, Swiggy announced that Instamart serves over 14 million monthly transacting users and operates a network of more than 1,200 dark stores strategically located across over 130 cities. The company has also made significant strides in optimizing its operations, with over 45% of its dark store network now contributing positively to its margins, indicating a healthy path towards profitability. This substantial scale and ongoing operational improvements underscore Instamart’s continued strength in the quick commerce arena.
Flipkart’s impressive growth trajectory in Minutes is largely attributable to its aggressive expansion of its delivery infrastructure. The company has dramatically scaled its micro-fulfillment centers (MFCs) – small, strategically located warehouses designed for rapid order fulfillment. One source indicated that Flipkart Minutes now operates between 1,020 and 1,050 MFCs, a significant increase from 600 in January and approximately 340 a year ago. The company is reportedly adding around 100 new facilities each month, with an ambitious target of reaching 1,500 MFCs by the end of 2026. This rapid physical expansion is crucial for reducing delivery times and increasing capacity to meet escalating demand.
Beyond the sheer expansion of its dark store network, Flipkart possesses a distinct advantage: its vast existing customer base. Satish Meena, an advisor at Datum Intelligence, highlighted that Flipkart has invested billions of dollars and years in acquiring millions of e-commerce customers. This pre-existing audience provides Flipkart Minutes with a readily available market for its faster delivery services, bypassing the initial customer acquisition hurdles faced by newer entrants. "Flipkart is already a serious player," Meena stated. "Once you open 1,000 dark stores and [are] doing a million orders per day, it’s serious enough." This established customer loyalty and trust translate into a significant head start for Flipkart Minutes.
The service is also experiencing encouraging repeat business and increased purchasing frequency. Sources familiar with the operations revealed that approximately 65% to 70% of customers making purchases on Flipkart Minutes each month are repeat buyers. Furthermore, the average number of transactions per customer has seen a substantial increase of 50% to 60% compared to the previous year. This indicates that once customers experience the convenience of ultrafast delivery, they are increasingly integrating it into their regular shopping habits.
The average order value on Flipkart Minutes currently hovers between ₹400 and ₹500 (approximately $4.20-$5.20), with high-growth categories including fruits and vegetables, staples, dairy, and meat. To further capture a larger share of consumer spending, Flipkart is actively expanding its selection to include higher-end gourmet products, such as organic and artisanal items. This strategy aims to cater to a broader range of consumer needs and preferences, positioning Minutes as a comprehensive solution for everyday purchases and premium goods alike. Even as Flipkart Minutes has scaled its operations, its average delivery time has impressively decreased to around 11 minutes from 13 minutes a year ago, a testament to the efficiency of its expanding infrastructure and optimized logistics.
The burgeoning quick commerce sector is playing an increasingly pivotal role in how Indians shop online, even amidst signs of softening broader consumer demand. Analysts at Bernstein noted in a recent report that while India’s overall consumption growth moderated in July, the shift towards quick commerce and e-commerce platforms continued unabated, with quick-commerce services experiencing healthy growth in their monthly active user bases. This indicates a fundamental change in consumer behavior, where convenience and speed are becoming paramount purchasing drivers.
In this dynamic market, Amazon is also intensifying its efforts to capture a significant share of the Indian quick-commerce pie. The Seattle-based tech giant is actively expanding Amazon Now, its dedicated quick-commerce service, aiming to leverage its existing e-commerce customer base for its instant delivery offering. During his visit to India in June, CEO Andy Jassy highlighted Amazon Now as its fastest-growing business in the country, reporting that orders have doubled every quarter since its inception. Amazon has ambitious plans to extend the service to over 300 cities and establish a network of more than 1,000 micro-fulfillment centers, alongside larger facilities, to broaden the range of products deliverable within minutes. This significant investment underscores Amazon’s commitment to competing head-on in the Indian ultrafast delivery market.
The rapid expansion of quick commerce services by both Flipkart and Amazon can be viewed as a strategic imperative, serving both offensive and defensive purposes. As Meena explained, the risk for e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon is that consumers, once accustomed to receiving certain purchases almost immediately, may gravitate towards specialist quick-commerce platforms if they cannot match that speed. The convenience of instant gratification is becoming a powerful loyalty driver, and any failure to meet these evolving expectations could lead to lost transactions. "Can you go back to scheduled delivery now in grocery? No," Meena asserted. "You will not go back." This sentiment encapsulates the profound shift in consumer expectations, making quick commerce no longer a niche offering but a fundamental requirement for sustained competitiveness in the Indian online retail landscape. The battle for India’s shoppers is increasingly being fought on the battlefield of speed, convenience, and immediate gratification, with Flipkart and Amazon locked in a fierce race to dominate this evolving frontier.
