Amazon has expanded Amazon Now, its quick commerce service, to more than 120 cities in India, doubling its footprint in two weeks ahead of its Great Indian Festival sale, which starts on October 8.
Cities now covered include Amritsar, Abohar, Jalandhar, Ambala, Mangaluru, Manipal, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Changanassery, Bhubaneswar and Karwar. Orders are fulfilled through close to 800 micro-fulfilment and urban fulfilment centres. The company did not say how many of these are dedicated dark stores.
“Amazon Now continues to be the fastest-growing e-commerce business unit in Amazon India’s history, with orders doubling every quarter,” said Harsh Goyal, vice-president, everyday essentials, Amazon India.
In September, Amazon said Amazon Now had reached $1 billion in annualised gross sales over the preceding three months. The company plans to take the service to more than 300 cities.
The push comes as Amazon trails Flipkart in quick-commerce, according to channel checks by UBS published in early September and reported by FE. Flipkart Minutes had more than 1,000 dark stores across 120-130 cities, against 500-600 for Amazon Now, the brokerage estimated. Amazon Now had activated fewer than one in 10 of the 60-70 million customers who regularly use Amazon’s main app, and averaged 700-850 orders per store per day, against the 1,700-1,800 a store needs to turn profitable, according to the same checks.