Amazon, Flipkart to have quick commerce play in certain categories: Delhivery CEO Sahil Barua

Delhivery CEO and co-founder Sahil Barua on Friday noted that Amazon and Flipkart may soon have a sub-segment of quick commerce involving two- or four-hour deliveries. In the company’s post-earnings analyst call, Barua said: “There’s a sub-segment of quick commerce which is yet to be evaluated. There’s a long distance between 15-minute delivery and same-day or next-day delivery. I think there will be a segment, which will emerge for certain kinds of products, which will be two-hour, four-hour deliveries. We already perform this in all the cities we are present in."

Quick commerce platforms, including Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart, are strategically expanding their offerings to encompass broader categories such as fashion, electronics, home appliances, and luggage. These expansions venture into domains traditionally dominated by e-commerce providers. It was earlier reported that Flipkart is planning to foray into quick commerce in July.

Barua said: “I anticipate that for certain categories within ecommerce that are more amenable to quick commerce, which are structured categories like mobile phones, for example, or certain kinds of appliances…I think larger players will be around. Flipkart and Amazon have both made public announcements to this effect that they will be expanding their operations for these categories, and I think we’ll have a role to play there in the overall supply chain.” 

Earlier, Avenue Supermarts CEO Neville Noronha also said that quick commerce platforms have made big structural change in the retail landscape. He said the format is 'significantly smarter' than digital platforms, and is more relevant to India.

"Quick commerce that could have huge scale and digitally enabled micro enterprises which can reach their small tiny audiences at very low costs and also a resurgence of differentiated / unique touch & feel retail / QSR / Cafes," Noronha told CNBC-TV18 on Friday.

Earlier this month, Swiggy Instamart introduced movie merchandise delivery, expanding the quick commerce sector. Various platforms partnered with jewellery brands to offer swift delivery of silver and gold coins within 10 minutes for Akshaya Tritiya. This collaboration signifies the industry's innovative approach to meet customer demands promptly.

This week while presenting its Q4 FY24 results, food-delivery company Zomato Ltd said it is now doubling down on its rapidly growing quick-commerce business Blinkit and is aiming to add 100 dark stores by June. By the end of this financial year, Zomato is targeting 1,000 warehouses for Blinkit, which the company said turned operationally profitable in March, as both revenue and gross order value doubled during the fourth quarter. 

In March, co-founder and chief executive officer Deepinder Goyal had said he expected Blinkit, which Zomato acquired in June 2022, to become larger than the core food-delivery business over the next year.

Zomato added about 75 Blinkit stores between January and March, taking its total count of warehouses to 526, as the quick-commerce business strives to get closer to frequent buyers to capitalise on customers who’ve grown accustomed to instant delivery of daily household essentials.

“While we have a presence in 26 cities, the focus from an expansion standpoint is the top eight cities in India," said Albinder Dhindsa, founder and CEO of Blinkit, which was previously known as Grofers. “Of the new stores that we opened in (the fourth quarter), 80% are in these top eight cities."