D2C brands are joining the queue to launch campaigns exclusively with quick commerce platforms to acquire new customers and drive sales, especially in the festive season.
Quick commerce platforms are becoming the preferred choice for brands to launch new products and a major revenue driver for brands as they become essential for urban households, capturing wallet share.
Shauravi Malik, Co-Founder of Wholsum Foods, said, “For agile brands like ours, their seamless integration has been a game-changer. Over the past year, quick commerce has matched traditional marketplace platforms in revenue, accounting for 25 per cent of our total sales. With a repeat purchase rate exceeding 40 per cent, maintaining availability is non-negotiable - our customers might switch between platforms, but they remain committed to healthier options for their kids.”
“Initially, we saw quick commerce as a channel primarily for snacks, but it has evolved into a comprehensive sales avenue for us,” he added.
Brands are also leveraging sampling initiatives through platforms for customer reach.
“Around 70 per cent of our sales are generated through online channels, with a substantial portion coming from Q-commerce platforms. We’ve also leveraged sampling initiatives through platforms like Blinkit, accelerating growth and customer reach,” said Saurabh Kapoor, Co-Founder, Wellbeing Nutrition.
“The prospect of instant delivery is particularly effective in catering to our health-concsious Gen Z consumers. We’ve strategically invested in both logistics and marketing to ensure our products are available and appealing on these channels,” Kapoor added.
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Investments in quick commerce are in line with the growth potential of these channels, noted Shankar Prasad, Founder & CEO, Plum.
“Quick commerce is now at least in urban areas fast emerging as the default mode for household purchases and in some cases even occasional purchases such as electronics. Our sales from quick commerce are between 15 to 20 per cent of our total online sale,” Prasad added.
Quick commerce firms are also deploying user acquisition and retention tactics. Platforms have cut down minimum order values for free delivery.
Swiggy Instamart has cut the minimum order value for free delivery to ₹99, while Blinkit, which has levied customers a fee to deliver regardless of the order size, recently started offering free deliveries for orders above ₹199.
Quick commerce firms are also expanding their dark store counts aggressively. added 152 such micro warehouses in the September quarter to take the total count to 791. Zepto has surpassed 500 dark stores and is on track to hit 700 by March.
While Swiggy Instamart has 605 active dark stores in the country, up from 557 such micro warehouses as of June 30.