Flipkart’s tryst with quick commerce
Flipkart is mulling on venturing into quick commerce – again.Amid the evolving and rising quick commerce spectrum with players like Blinkit, 2023’s unicorn Zepto, and Swiggy’s Instamart, the Walmart-backed e-commerce company is also venturing into hyperlocal deliveries, as per reports.
The Quick Commerce market in India is forecasted to generate a revenue of $3,349 million in 2024, according to Statista, with the users expected to go up to 5.6 crore by 2028 in the quick-commerce market in the country.
Tapping this opportunity, Flipkart is set to foray into 10-15 minute deliveries, as per sources cited in the reports.
But this is not the first time Flipkart has taken the limited time delivery route.
In 2020, the company launched hyperlocal service Flipkart Quick as a pilot programme in Bengaluru, with deliveries under 90 minutes which were not confined to groceries.
For perishable items like fruits and vegetables, dairy, poultry, and meat, the company also came up with ‘dark stores’ and also forged partnerships with local kirana stores and last-mile delivery platform Shadowfax.
Flipkart laid out plans to expand the service to six other cities in the next few months, but its recent foray shows a more serious strategy to leverage the last-minute delivery market.
The company in 2023 posted a widening of consolidated loss to Rs 4,890.6 crore in the 2022-23 financial year, as per Tofler data.
It was also reported that Flipkart is mulling to buy Reliance-backed Dunzo, which was the earliest logistics foray into quick deliveries before it encountered operational issues since 2023.
Flipkart, in its response to the report, said they are making several investments to enhance delivery capabilities, including same day delivery in 20 cities covering mobiles, essential items, electronics, home appliances, fashion, books and lifestyle products.
“We are committed to meeting evolving customer expectations and delivering excellence in value, selection and speed, with more initiatives expected on this front in the coming months,” Flipkart was quoted as saying.
Startup founders like Kunal Shah and Deepinder Goyal are also betting on the potential of quick commerce in contrast to e-commerce and food delivery.
Shah said a bulk of e-commerce in India happens from a small amount of affluent pincodes, and on a small amount of stock keeping units (SKUs).
Citing the impatience of affluent customers, he said quick-commerce will “eat e-commerce alive.”
The rise of quick-commerce has also come on the back of smart campaigns and instant availability in major metro cities of India, with delivery orders surging during festivals and events like the World Cup.
Flipkart is also foraying to payments through its in-app UPI feature, which will allow for bill payments and mobile recharges, apart from payments on Myntra, Flipkart Wholesale, Flipkart Health+ and Cleartrip.
