When PepsiCo India recently launched its limited-edition Money Heist Pepsi cans, guess which channel it used? Surprisingly, it chose to initially deliver the cans exclusively through quick commerce platform Swiggy Instamart.

For young healthy food brand Slurrp Farm, getting on to Q-commerce platforms has increased its discoverability and reach. “We are present on Grofers, Big Basket Daily, Amazon Now, Swiggy Instamart. In fact, we were part of Instamart’s first birthday celebration where we were recognised as one of the quickest growing brands,” says Meghana Narayan, co-founder, Slurrp Farm.

Catching up

Once thought of as a digital channel for unplanned commerce – wherein if a customer forgot a daily necessity could be gratified instantly – Q-commerce is gaining enormous traction and brands big and small are clambering aboard the innovative distribution space. Delivery platforms, too, are adding a Q component to their spaces promising instant deliveries.

Both Grofers and Swiggy are reporting over a lakh plus transactions daily over their quick commerce channels. Grofers, which offers 10 minutes assured delivery in 14 cities, says it now has one million quick commerce users and has seen a growth of 3.5 times in terms of monthly run rate over the last two months. “Customers love quick commerce and the retention rates and NPS tells us this is a service that they want and need. Average weekly retention is about 50 per cent which means half of the users come back next week itself,” a Grofers spokesperson said.

Market size

According to a report by Redseer released in August, the estimated size of the Q-commerce segment will be about $0.3 billion in 2021 and expected to grow 10-15 times over the next five years to touch $5 billion.

In July, Nestle India witnessed a growth of 147 per cent in the hyperlocal or the quick commerce channels in the first half of 2021.

As Kanwaljit Singh, managing partner of Fireside Ventures says, Q-commerce is becoming another important customer touchpoint for brands. “Wherever the consumer is looking for you, you need to be present there. There is demand to be created.”

If the Q-commerce players can execute the delivery experience well even in the top metros it will help get a lot more customers to the online shopping fold especially for unplanned purchases, says B Krishna Rao, Senior Category Head at Parle Products.

Currently, food, beverages and munchies are the biggest movers on Q-commerce. But with drones, machine learning and IoT entering the delivery experience, Q-commerce is expected to add more speed and depth.

Related Topics