Walmart-owned Flipkart is rapidly emerging as a major force in India’s fiercely competitive quick-commerce market, nearly two years after launching its instant-delivery service, Flipkart Minutes.
Indian startups spent years building consumer demand for groceries and everyday products delivered within minutes. Platforms such as Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart established the category and helped make rapid delivery a regular part of urban shopping behaviour. Now, large e-commerce companies with massive existing customer bases are moving aggressively into the same space.
According to people familiar with the matter who spoke to TechCrunch, Flipkart Minutes is now processing approximately 1.1 million to 1.2 million orders a day, representing a sharp increase from around 390,000 to 400,000 daily orders in November.
The growth puts Flipkart Minutes increasingly close to Swiggy Instamart, which is estimated to be handling around 1.4 million orders per day.
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Add INDYASTORY on GoogleThe numbers highlight how quickly Flipkart has scaled its quick-commerce operation in a market that was already dominated by established players.
Flipkart Minutes Rapidly Narrows the Gap
Flipkart entered the quick-commerce market in August 2024, significantly later than some of India’s largest instant-delivery platforms.
Swiggy launched Instamart in 2020, while Zepto entered the market in 2021. Blinkit, meanwhile, developed from the earlier online grocery business Grofers, which was founded in 2013 before shifting its focus towards faster deliveries.
These companies had years to build delivery networks, customer behaviour and local supply chains before Flipkart entered the category.
Yet Flipkart Minutes has expanded rapidly.
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Add INDYASTORY on GoogleBased on recent estimates cited by TechCrunch, Blinkit remains the largest player by daily order volume, handling roughly 3.4 million to 3.6 million orders a day. Zepto follows with an estimated 2.4 million to 2.6 million daily orders.
Swiggy Instamart remains behind those two larger rivals in daily order volumes but still operates at significant scale.
Flipkart Minutes, however, is now beginning to narrow the distance between itself and the established leaders.
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Add INDYASTORY on GoogleFor Flipkart, the rapid growth demonstrates that an established e-commerce company can potentially use its existing consumer ecosystem to accelerate adoption in the quick-commerce category.
More Than 1,000 Micro-Fulfillment Centres
A major part of Flipkart Minutes’ growth strategy has been the aggressive expansion of its delivery infrastructure.
The company reportedly operates around 1,020 to 1,050 micro-fulfillment centres, according to people familiar with the matter.
These facilities are small warehouses located close to customers and are designed specifically to enable fast order processing and delivery.
The network has expanded rapidly.
Flipkart Minutes reportedly had around 600 micro-fulfillment centres in January and approximately 340 a year earlier.
The company is said to be adding close to 100 new facilities every month, with a target of reaching around 1,500 micro-fulfillment centres by the end of 2026.
This infrastructure expansion is central to the economics of quick commerce.
Unlike conventional e-commerce, where products may travel from large warehouses over longer distances, quick-commerce platforms depend on inventory being positioned close to customers.
The closer the product is to the buyer, the faster the company can process and deliver the order.
However, building such a network is expensive and operationally complex.
Companies need to manage real estate, inventory, supply chains, staffing and delivery capacity across hundreds or thousands of neighbourhood-level facilities.
Flipkart’s Existing Customer Base Could Be a Major Advantage
While new quick-commerce startups had to spend heavily to acquire customers and build consumer awareness, Flipkart entered the market with an established advantage: a large existing e-commerce user base.
Over the years, Flipkart has spent significant resources building one of India’s largest digital retail ecosystems.
According to Satish Meena, an adviser at Datum Intelligence, this existing customer base gives Flipkart a ready audience for its faster delivery service.
“Flipkart is already a serious player,” Meena told TechCrunch. “Once you open 1,000 dark stores and [are] doing a million orders per day, it’s serious enough.”
The opportunity for Flipkart lies in converting existing e-commerce customers into quick-commerce customers.
The company does not need to convince consumers that online shopping exists. Instead, it needs to persuade them that certain purchases can now be delivered much faster.
This could become an important competitive advantage as the distinction between traditional e-commerce and quick commerce begins to narrow.
Repeat Customers Are Increasing
Flipkart Minutes is also reportedly seeing growth in repeat usage.
People familiar with the service told TechCrunch that approximately 65% to 70% of customers purchasing on Flipkart Minutes each month are repeat buyers.
The number of transactions per customer has also reportedly increased by around 50% to 60% compared with a year earlier.
These metrics are important because quick-commerce businesses depend heavily on repeat behaviour.
A customer may purchase a television, smartphone or large appliance online only occasionally. But groceries, dairy products, vegetables and household essentials are recurring purchases.
The more frequently consumers use a platform, the more valuable that customer relationship can become.
For quick-commerce companies, increasing purchase frequency is often as important as acquiring new users.
What Are Customers Buying on Flipkart Minutes?
Customers on Flipkart Minutes are reportedly spending an average of around ₹400 to ₹500 per order.
Fast-growing categories include:
- Fruits and vegetables
- Grocery staples
- Dairy products
- Meat and other food products
- Everyday household essentials
Flipkart is also reportedly expanding its selection of premium and gourmet products.
This includes organic and artisanal offerings as the company attempts to capture a larger share of consumer spending.
The expansion reflects how India’s quick-commerce market has evolved.
What began largely as a solution for urgent grocery purchases has expanded into a broader convenience-driven shopping model.
Consumers increasingly expect platforms to deliver a growing variety of products quickly, including food, personal-care products, electronics, beauty items and premium goods.
Average Delivery Time Falls to Around 11 Minutes
As Flipkart Minutes has expanded its network, its reported delivery time has also improved.
According to one source familiar with the operation, the service’s average delivery time has fallen to approximately 11 minutes, compared with around 13 minutes a year earlier.
The improvement highlights the importance of density in quick-commerce operations.
As companies add more fulfillment centres, they can position inventory closer to more customers.
Shorter delivery distances can potentially reduce delivery times and improve operational efficiency.
However, the expansion of dark stores also raises questions about long-term profitability.
Quick-commerce companies need sufficient order volumes in each location to justify the costs associated with maintaining inventory and delivery infrastructure.
The industry’s next phase may therefore be less about simply opening more locations and more about increasing productivity and profitability across existing networks.
Instamart Continues to Operate at Major Scale
Despite Flipkart Minutes closing the gap, Swiggy Instamart remains a significant player in the market.
Swiggy recently said that Instamart has more than 14 million monthly transacting users and operates over 1,200 dark stores across more than 130 cities.
The company has also been working to improve the unit economics of its quick-commerce business.
According to Swiggy, more than 45% of Instamart’s dark-store network is now contribution-margin positive.
That metric is particularly important in the quick-commerce industry, where companies have historically faced concerns over the high cost of rapid delivery.
The sector has spent heavily on infrastructure, customer acquisition and discounts.
As competition intensifies, investors and companies are increasingly focused on whether quick-commerce platforms can convert rapid growth into sustainable economics.
Amazon Is Also Expanding Amazon Now
The competitive landscape is becoming even more intense as Amazon expands its own quick-commerce ambitions in India.
Amazon has been scaling Amazon Now, its instant-delivery service, as it looks to bring quick commerce to its large existing e-commerce customer base.
During Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s visit to India in June, the company said Amazon Now had become its fastest-growing business in the country, with orders reportedly doubling every quarter since launch.
Amazon has outlined plans to expand the service to more than 300 cities and build a network of more than 1,000 micro-fulfillment centres.
The company is also looking at larger facilities that could support a broader product range for rapid delivery.
Amazon and Flipkart are now following a similar strategic logic.
Both companies already have millions of online shoppers. Quick commerce gives them an opportunity to capture a larger share of frequent, everyday spending that might otherwise go to specialised instant-delivery platforms.
Quick Commerce Is Changing Indian E-Commerce
The rise of quick commerce is reshaping expectations across India’s online retail industry.
Consumers who have become accustomed to receiving groceries and essentials within minutes may become less willing to wait for traditional scheduled delivery windows.
This shift is creating a strategic challenge for conventional e-commerce companies.
Satish Meena told TechCrunch that the expansion of quick commerce is becoming both an offensive and defensive strategy for larger platforms.
The concern is straightforward: if consumers begin moving a growing share of everyday purchases to quick-commerce apps, traditional e-commerce platforms risk losing those transactions.
“Can you go back to scheduled delivery now in grocery? No,” Meena said. “You will not go back.”
That changing consumer behaviour may explain why Amazon and Flipkart are investing aggressively in the category despite the infrastructure costs involved.
The Next Battle Will Be About Scale and Profitability
India’s quick-commerce market is no longer just a contest between startups.
It is increasingly becoming a battle involving some of the world’s largest technology and retail companies.
Blinkit and Zepto have significant scale. Swiggy Instamart continues to expand its network and improve its economics. Flipkart Minutes is rapidly increasing its order volume and infrastructure footprint, while Amazon is investing heavily in Amazon Now.
The next stage of competition could depend on several factors:
- Daily order growth
- Customer retention
- Purchase frequency
- Average order value
- Dark-store productivity
- Delivery speed
- Product selection
- Contribution margins
- Long-term profitability
Flipkart’s rapid rise demonstrates that the market remains open to new challengers, even for companies that entered later than established competitors.
The company now has the infrastructure and order volume to be considered a significant quick-commerce player.
But closing the gap with established leaders is only one part of the challenge.
The larger question is whether companies can maintain fast delivery, broad product availability and customer growth while building sustainable unit economics.
A New Phase for India’s Instant-Delivery Market
Two years after Flipkart Minutes entered the market, the competitive landscape looks increasingly different.
What was once primarily a startup-led sector is now attracting some of the largest names in global retail and technology.
Flipkart’s reported growth to more than one million daily orders shows how quickly a large e-commerce company can scale when it combines an existing customer base with an expanding network of local fulfillment infrastructure.
Its progress also puts greater pressure on established quick-commerce companies.
At the same time, Amazon’s expansion means the competitive battle is likely to become even more intense.
For consumers, the result could mean faster delivery, more product choices and increased convenience.
For the companies involved, however, the stakes are considerably higher.
India’s quick-commerce market is becoming a major battleground for control over everyday consumer spending. The winners may not simply be the companies that deliver the fastest.
They will likely be the companies that can combine speed, selection, customer loyalty and sustainable economics at scale.
As Flipkart Minutes continues to expand, India’s quick-commerce leaders now face competition not only from one another but from the country’s largest established e-commerce platforms.
