Blinket, Zepto, Instamart Rival? Flipkart Stirs Competition In Quick Commerce Services As 'Minutes' Goes LIVE

The quick commerce services in India have welcomed a new player, Flipkart Minutes which will compete against the popular delivery apps of big boys Zomato-backed Blinket, Swiggy-led Instamart, Zepto and Tata Digital's BigBasket.

The e-commerce giant, Flipkart makes its services via the 'Minutes' app, live in the pin codes of its home city, Bengaluru. Earlier, only employees of Flipkart could use the services in the headquarters.

Flipkart Minutes is now delivering products such as groceries, electronics, and others in areas of Belandur and HSR Layout. The period taken for the delivery is between 8-16 minutes.

The quick delivery companies have been in tough competition, and Flipkart is now formally in competition with Blinkit, Zepto, BigBasket and Instamart.

Notably, as per a MoneyControl report, Flipkart is offering free deliveries on all orders above Rs 99, however, is imposing Rs 5 as a platform fee per order.

Earlier, the Economic Times had reported that Flipkart was planning to operate around 100 dark stores to charge up its quick commerce play during the festive season this year. Dark stores are mini warehouses from where deliveries are made.

Recently, after Q1 results, the CEO of Blinkit, Albinder Dhindsa said, "Competitive intensity in the quick commerce category has been high since the word 'quick commerce' was coined. Recently, some players have been spending more on marketing and subsidies. However, our customers, who value quality of service and reliability, seem to be unaffected and that is reflected in our performance of the quarter, where we have grown 20%+ without the need to match the spends or subsidies of our competitors."

Further, Albinder added, "We have been focused from the beginning to increase the selection for our customers and offer it in the most efficient way to them. This has meant that the average selection available to customers in any neighbourhood has increased between 4-5x over the last eight quarters - we are now able to offer up to 25,000 unique SKUs to our customers in some locations."

Coming to Flipkart, as per its latest H1 2024 Trends report, Ravi Vijayaraghavan, Senior Vice President of Analytics and Data Science at Flipkart, said, "Consumers today are more discerning and mindful of their choices, gravitating towards seasonal and personalized preferences. At Flipkart, we are delighted to present our FlipTrends H1 2024 report which not only reflects interesting shopping trends but also showcases growth opportunities for e-commerce at large."

Flipkart's senior VP added, "As we move into the festive spirit of things, our focus remains on fostering trust, convenience, and affordability, ensuring that Flipkart remains the ultimate destination for customers evolving shopping needs."

Established in 2007, Flipkart has enabled millions of sellers, merchants, and small businesses to participate in India's digital commerce revolution. With a registered user base of more than 500 million, Flipkart's marketplace offers over 150 million products across 80+ categories.

At present, there are over 1.4 million sellers on the platform, including Shopsy sellers. With a focus on empowering and delighting every Indian by delivering value through technology and innovation, Flipkart has created thousands of jobs in the ecosystem while empowering generations of entrepreneurs and MSMEs. Flipkart has pioneered services such as Cash on Delivery, No Cost EMI, Easy Returns, and UPI. These customer-centric innovations focus on enhancing digital payment offerings for all customers while making online shopping more accessible and affordable for millions of Indians.