The competition for superfast grocery delivery is intensifying in India, with every e-commerce company fighting inch by inch for customers. The three major quick grocery delivery companies, Blinkit, Swiggy, and Zepto, have an 88 percent market share. Zepto, founded in 2021, the last entrant in the market, has surpassed Swiggy Instamart, its one-year senior, and is now closing on Blinkit, which was founded much earlier in 2013.
In March, the daily volumes of quick commerce reached 4.15 to 4.45 million orders per day, says a report by Moneycontrol. Blinkit delivered about 1.65 to 1.75 million orders in a day, while Zepto, in the second position, delivered 1.45 to 1.55 million orders a day. Swiggy Instamart has about 1.05 to 1.15 million orders a day.
In the past one year, Zepto has scaled 200 percent in its daily deliveries. In March last year, the company delivered 0.45 to 0.55 million orders every day. In contrast, the two main competitors of Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart, registered a growth of 90 percent and 60 percent in their daily deliveries.
The ever-growing quick commerce market
Despite the competition among the market players, the quick commerce market has been on a continuous growth. According to a report by Bain & Company, since 2022, the quick commerce market has grown five times in size. For the next 5 years, the market is expected to grow 40 percent annually.
Customer retention and monthly order frequency have also increased in the quick commerce market. While in 2021, the monthly order stood at 4.4 for the average customer, it increased to 6 by the end of 2024.
Struggle of Flipkart and BigBasket
The quick commerce companies are giving a tough time to the industry giants like Flipkart, Amazon, and BigBasket. According to the report by Bain & Company, the Q-commerce companies delivered two-thirds of the total online grocery orders in India in 2024.
Initially, the traditional e-commerce companies tried to beat the Q-commerce companies with better prices against the quick delivery time. But after a couple of years of failed experiments, the traditional e-commerce companies also entered the Q-commerce market with their own variants like Flipkart Minutes. However, by then, the three new-age companies, Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart, had firmly consolidated their position in the market.
By March 2025, the report by Moneycontrol shows that Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy, combined, had 88 percent of daily orders in the Q commerce market. Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy had a share of 35, 31, and 22 percent, respectively, in the daily orders in Q commerce.
In contrast, the traditional players in the grocery market are far behind the Q-commerce companies in daily orders. While BigBasket, with 0.5 million daily orders, had a 9 percent share, Flipkart Minutes had a market share of a mere 3 percent.