Flipkart enters India’s 10-minute fast delivery competition

In India’s rapidly growing e-commerce market, there’s a new player with a deep pocketbook: Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce company.

Flipkart has started rolling out Flipkart Minutes, its fast-paced shopping service, in parts of Bengaluru. The new service offers customers the option of getting a wide range of items, from groceries to smartphones, delivered within 10 minutes.

Walmart-owned Flipkart is the latest entrant into the flash-commerce space, which is quickly gaining popularity in India even though the model has failed in many other markets. The e-commerce company offers customers free shipping on orders worth 100 rupees, or $1.20.

Flipkart did not immediately respond to a request for comment. TechCrunch reported in March that Flipkart was working on a fast-track offering.

The move comes at a time when the QSR sector in India is showing remarkable resilience and growth. The convenience of 10-minute grocery deliveries has resonated with urban Indian consumers, leading to encouraging signals for companies like Zomato-owned Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy’s Instamart. Goldman Sachs estimates that Blinkit, India’s leading QSR player, is already worth half of its parent company Zomato.

Flipkart is the e-commerce market leader in India, but Amazon has a stronger hold on urban shoppers in India. The Bengaluru-based startup believes that fast-paced commerce is a way to capture some of Amazon’s best customers in India, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Amazon, for its part, has shown little interest in entering the fast-paced retail market in India, instead focusing on same-day delivery for Prime members and questioning the quality of products offered by “fast” delivery services in its marketing campaigns.

Fast-track companies, which rely on hundreds of small warehouses or “dark stores” strategically located near residential and business areas to provide quick deliveries, have expanded into numerous categories in recent months, including fashion and electronics.

A recent TechCrunch analysis found that many of Amazon India’s best-selling products were available on quick-commerce platforms, meaning the company could be losing some business and traffic to quick-commerce firms.

This is a developing story. More to come.