Instant Delivery Models

#D2C Brands: #QuickCommerce—A Game-Changer or a Threat? Over the last 1-2 years, I’ve been urging D2C brands to embrace Quick Commerce (QC). Today, it’s no longer optional—it’s the most transformative shift in consumer behavior since marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart emerged. If you still have the relationships and the window, this is land-grab time! How Did We Get Here? The Early Marketplace Era (Amazon/Flipkart): • These platforms disrupted traditional distribution, creating challenges for legacy brands. Sales attribution, conflicting regional offers, and the alienation of local distributors made it hard for older players to adapt - while customers were loving the home delivery (behaviour change #convenience over #familiarity) • Challenger brands thrived: Delivering to 1-2 locations with monthly POs, better margins, and national visibility. Marketplaces made them discoverable, even if delivery took 2-3 days (customers were still happy). The Shift to Quick Commerce: • QC has redefined online retail, emphasizing speed, convenience, and instant availability (huge change / #convenience over #novelty). • Unlike marketplaces, QC tilts the game in favor of older brands, thanks to: - Multiple delivery points engaging local distributors. - Weekly POs and instant stock replenishment, a system legacy players already excel at. - Profitable unit economics, making QC sustainable for established players. What Does This Mean for D2C Brands? The channel that once gave challenger brands a platform is now leveling the playing field—and if D2C brands don’t act fast, legacy players will reclaim dominance. Why? • QC’s dark store model stocks limited options, prioritizing what’s available fastest. • Customers won’t wait—they’ll pick brands they recognize or that are ready to deliver within minutes. Lessons from Abroad #Gorillas (Europe), a QC pioneer, opened doors for newer, niche brands. But legacy FMCG giants quickly leveraged their deep supply chains to stock dark stores at scale. With faster fulfillment, they edged out smaller brands, proving that in QC, availability and recall trump novelty. #Deliveroo (UK) disrupted grocery shopping with its Deliveroo Hop service, promising 10-minute deliveries. While niche brands initially gained visibility, large FMCG players reclaimed dominance, consistently stocking shelves to match consumer demand for speed. The result? Brands that couldn’t match delivery speed and availability lost ground—no matter how innovative they were. How Can #D2C Brands Win? To stay ahead in QC: • Be Available: If you’re not listed, you don’t exist. • Scale Inventory: Deliver weekly POs (or faster!) and meet QC’s demands for instant replenishment. • Leverage Speed: Build fulfillment systems that mirror legacy efficiency but with challenger agility. QC offers a window of opportunity for agile D2C brands—but that window is closing fast. It’s time to scale up or risk losing your spot to legacy giants. What’s Your Take?

India’s quick food delivery space is on fire By 2030, this market is expected to cross ₹2 lakh crore Growing at a steady 18% CAGR We now have five players defining five radically different paths: 1. Zepto Cafe - Went from 30k to 100k+ daily orders - 50% gross margin on snacks & drinks - Built for 10-minute delivery via dark stores • Snack-first = higher margins than meals • Urban density + micro-warehousing is its engine • Positioned as a full-stack alternative to Zomato/Swiggy But: - Operations were paused in 44 stores across North India - Delhi NCR, Agra, Meerut, Haridwar, Gorakhpur, Amritsar, and Ghaziabad were impacted - Supply + staffing crunch triggered shutdown • Target to resume Q2 FY26 •Highlights the fragility of scaling ops too fast •High dependency on hyper-local labor & logistics 2. Bistro by Zomato  Zomato tried a restaurant-led 10-minute model.  It failed. • Kitchens weren’t ready • Restaurant menus were too long • CX was inconsistent - So they pulled the plug—and went all in on Blinkit’s Bistro kitchens. - Now active across Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru. - More than 100 kitchens. Zomato now controls the experience end-to-end. • Tighter kitchen prep timelines • Curated, limited menus  • Blinkit infrastructure as a moat 3. Swiggy Bolt Swiggy’s counterpunch? Bolt - Live in 500 cities - 10–15 min food delivery - Now over 10% of total Swiggy food orders Unlike Zomato’s earlier model, Swiggy took a smarter route: • Partnered with restaurants to create Bolt-only prep stations • Menus capped at 8–10 items for speed • Uses cloud kitchen expertise to streamline ops Bolt isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about owning the urban “hungry-now” moment - Ideal for metros - Great for high AOV use cases - Appeals to speed-first professionals 4. Swiggy Snacc Snacc is Swiggy’s most interesting—and riskiest—play - A standalone app - Built for snack-first consumers - Targets urban, health-conscious professionals Think cold brews. Protein bars. Shakes. Delivered in <10 minutes. Unlike Bolt or Bistro, Snacc is not about meals. It’s about intent-driven indulgence. Why a separate app? • To test a focused vertical • To learn from behavioural signals • To keep branding distinct from Swiggy’s mainline But:  - Low order frequency.  - Harder to builda habit.  - Limited scale outside major cities. 5. bigbasket enters the chat BigBasket just announced a national rollout of 10-minute food delivery. Starting with: - 40 dark stores by July - Snacks from Starbucks and Qmin (Tata-owned) - No third-party brands involved The twist? They’re bundling food with existing grocery orders. This means: • Lower delivery cost per order • Higher AOV per cart • Repeat use from a loyal base And they’re expanding dark stores from 700 → 1200 by end-2025. So what’s really going on here? Standalone apps. Snack-only menus. Bundled logistics. This isn’t just food delivery anymore. It’s micro-commerce. Optimized for time, mood, and moment.

From 'who wants the delivery in 10 minutes?' to eating a big chunk of Amazon and Flipkart's festive pie, the quick commerce platforms in India have come a long way in just 2-3 years. In the top 8-12 metros, Q-comm has transformed how we shop for everyday items, promising groceries, essentials, snacks, and now even electronics/appliances at our doorstep in just a few minutes. While this staggering growth will naturally slow down over time, I believe that quick commerce will continue to boom for at least the next two years. Here's why: 1. Expansion of Dark Stores Quick commerce is powered by 'dark stores' — small, hyper-local warehouses that handle orders exclusively for online delivery. Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and bigbasket.com have set up over 2,500 dark stores nationwide, just 1-2 km away from high-demand areas. For context, each store can fulfill up to 2000 orders a day, with an average order assembly time of under a minute! Blinkit alone aims to establish a dark store for every 10,000 households, ensuring speed and efficiency. This dense network is a competitive advantage and a key reason why 10-minute delivery is even possible. 2. Surge in Consumer Demand for Convenience India's young, urban consumers are increasingly seeking convenience over price. The shift to Q-comm is natural for a generation accustomed to instant access to content, food, and transport. One of my contacts from this space told me that the online grocery demand in India surged by 76% in the last year, with quick commerce capturing nearly 25% of this growth. In metros like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, quick delivery options are particularly popular, with 30% of customers opting for these ultra-fast services over traditional grocery shopping. It's more than a trend — it's now an expectation. 3. Heavy Investment in Technology & Local Partnerships Tech is the backbone of Q-comm. Platforms like Zepto are investing heavily in AI and data analytics to forecast demand and optimize routes. With over ₹1,500 crores invested in tech infrastructure in 2023 alone, these companies are doubling down on making quick deliveries even quicker. Partnerships are also crucial. Blinkit's partnerships with regional brands enable faster restocking and offer customers better product availability. This combination of tech and partnerships ensures that these platforms handle a high volume of orders during peak hours without delays. With these pillars in place, Q-comm in India isn't just surviving—it's thriving. The model is efficient, matches the demands of our urban lifestyle, and is only set to expand further. The real challenge lies in going beyond the top 25-30 cities. Do you think Q-comm will soon become the norm in more Indian cities? 

bigbasket just abandoned its entire traditional e-commerce business for 10-minute deliveries. India's largest grocer has already ditched their entire business model. ❌ No more planned deliveries.  ❌ No more time slots. Starting next month, everything will be delivered in 10-30 minutes. The pivot was inevitable as BigBasket was losing the race badly: → Revenue grew only 6.27% in FY24 while competitors exploded  → BB Now has just 10% market share despite being India's largest grocer → Blinkit's revenue jumped 145% in the same period  → Zepto raised $665 million and became the poster child of quick commerce Even customers are moving more towards quick commerce, as quick commerce grew 77% last year vs. traditional e-commerce at 13%. BigBasket built their reputation on scheduled deliveries for over a decade, but consumer behavior shifted faster than they adapted. Now they're throwing $1 billion to catch up. This is what makes this move massive: → Expanding from 400 to 700 dark stores  → Targeting $1 billion revenue just from quick commerce  → Complete abandonment of their original model in upcoming months Consumer behavior has shifted, and people want everything fast. The convenience economy is here to stay. For Zepto and Blinkit, this means serious competition is coming. A well-funded, experienced player with deep pockets just entered their game. For consumers, this means better prices and faster service as competition heats up. Has quick delivery changed how you shop?

I watched a robot deliver food from a restaurant two blocks away. It was ridiculous and SO F**KING COOL! Who is shaping the future of autonomous food delivery? Coco: The new OpenAI partnership and fresh $122M in Series B funding for enhanced path planning lays the foundation for market dominance Manna Air Delivery: 3-minute drone deliveries are proving the speed advantage Wing: Multi-modal partnerships (see: Serve Robotics collab) are expanding their addressable market Nuro: Licensing pivot + deepening relationships with Uber highlights strategic focus to become the foundational autonomous vehicle technology provider Starship Technologies: With 8M+ deliveries; scaling from 50 campuses to 150 cities globally shows sustainable execution Zipline: Remains the drone delivery heavyweight with restaurant partnerships pushing beyond traditional medical deliveries Several key categories define the autonomous food delivery market: → Sidewalk Delivery Robots: Small autonomous robots designed for short-distance deliveries in pedestrian areas → Road-Based Autonomous Vehicles: Larger autonomous delivery vehicles capable of operating on public roads → Hybrid Remote-Operated Systems: Robotics solutions combining autonomous navigation with remote human oversight → Multi-Modal Delivery Platforms: Integrated systems combining various autonomous delivery methods with traditional logistics → Indoor/Controlled Environment Robots: Specialized robots for deliveries within buildings, hospitals, and controlled facilities → Drone Delivery Integration: Aerial autonomous delivery systems for rapid food delivery Market leaders in each category are emerging. But, while the market leaders are gaining commercial traction, winning key partnerships, and attracting funding, several players, including once-promising names are struggling to deliver (pun intended). In a market that once was betting on promise, execution is now table stakes. What recent highlights tell us about the evolution of the market: ↳Market leaders are now making millions of deliveries with 99% autonomy; proving scalability ↳Major platforms (Uber, DoorDash) are all-in with partnerships, driving adoption and revenue to fuel the next wave of innovation ↳Tech advancements and maturation are enabling the market shift from confined, controlled pilots to complex urban deployments ↳Investors are willing to write (big) checks to companies that are proving commercial traction with Nuro, Coco, Manna, and Neolix all raising fresh rounds this year We're witnessing the transition from “oh, look a robot” to "scalable last-mile infrastructure." 2025 is shaping up to be the year your Uber Eats or DoorDash driver isn’t a driver at all. P.S. Want more insights on the companies building the future of food delivery? Comment "insights delivered" below for *free* access to CB Insights' data and insights on the autonomous food delivery markets.

Quick Food Commerce 2.0: Can Swish Crack the 10-Minute Code? 10-minute food delivery is a tough game, and even giants like Zomato couldn’t crack it. But here’s where I think Swish is different... With $2M in seed funding from Accel and top angel investors, they’re betting on a hyperlocal model and lean operations to reimagine convenience at speed. How are they doing it? —> Hyperlocal Pods: Cloud kitchens serve within a 1.5 km radius, ensuring speed and efficiency. —> Optimized Process: Food is prepped, packed, and ready in under 7 minutes, with deliveries taking just 3-5 minutes. —> Profitable Margins: With 70% margins on food items, Swish isn’t just about speed—they’re about sustainability. In just three months, Swish has scaled to 150-200 orders daily, with an average order value of ₹250-₹300. They’re already expanding across Bengaluru, with plans to open 150 Pods in high-demand areas soon. Here’s my take: Speed alone isn’t enough—Swish is balancing efficiency, scalability, and profitability to build something truly impactful. They’re proving that in a competitive market, focused execution can make all the difference. The big question is: Can they scale this successfully and win in a space others couldn’t? This space is heating up—what’s your take? #QuickFoodCommerce #10MinuteDelivery #StartupInnovation

$4 billion deployed. Two models. One survived. Justo closed today. $334M raised. Adiós. That makes four dead: • Justo ($334M) • JOKR ($530M, retreated) • Merqueo ($107M) • Mercadoni ($15M) All tried the same thing: buy inventory, build warehouses, own delivery. In a 2% margin business. Rappi and iFood? $10.7B combined valuation. They aggregated. Didn’t own. Built platforms, not fulfillment centers. Rappi’s delivery costs are 10% of GMV. The losers burned 20-30%. Rappi does food, groceries, payments, travel. Multiple streams from the same customer. JOKR launched in 9 countries. By 2023 they were down to Brazil. That’s the whole story right there. When money was cheap, both models looked viable. When it ran out, only one had economics that worked. $4B says asset-light aggregation wins. Capital-intensive ownership loses.

Amazon has built a tiered quick commerce model under "Amazon Now," offering 10,000 essential items in 10 minutes, 100,000 in a few hours, and over 1 million with same-day or next-day delivery. This tiered speed offering is currently available to Prime customers, with fast delivery at no extra cost. Following its success in India, Amazon has expanded the quick commerce model to Dubai, Riyadh, Cairo, and Mexico City, and is currently piloting it in Seattle. Amazon reports that Prime members who use Amazon Now begin shopping on the platform three times more frequently afterward. This demonstrates that ultra-fast delivery significantly boosts repeat usage and deepens loyalty, helping Amazon drive retention and increase basket size in a highly competitive e-commerce market. Unlike many quick commerce startups, Amazon’s model is built on its existing supply chain, Prime user base, and fulfillment infrastructure. This reduces marginal costs and ensures long-term sustainability. From an ads POV, a noticeable change is that SB ads are no longer appearing in TOS placements for certain categories. Instead, Amazon Now listings are taking the top position, followed by SP ads. This shift could significantly impact brands, as SB visibility at TOS is being displaced, making it more difficult for advertisers to drive brand awareness and top-funnel engagement in these categories. #amazon #amazonadvertising #amazonads