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BENGALURU: Some quick commerce (10-minute delivery) players are now testing the waters in planned grocery purchases that the likes of Bigbasket had pioneered. This shift is aimed at capturing household bulk buying. However, a note from HSBC, says the move comes with trade-offs, particularly in terms of profitability.
New value-focused programmes such as Zepto’s Super-Saver, offer deep discounts, but require higher minimum order values – often more than double the usual average order value. While this strategy drives larger basket sizes, HSBC analysts note that it also compresses earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) margins, reducing them from around 6% to 3%.
It added that market leader Blinkit remains a premium-priced convenience player, avoiding deep discounts in favour of expanding categories and geographical reach. Swiggy Instamart falls somewhere in between the two, with competitive pricing but without the same push into bulk purchases. Zomato’s Blinkit does not have a loyalty programme like Zepto Pass or Swiggy One.
Quick commerce thrives on high-frequency, low-ticket orders, serving as a supplement to modern retail rather than a replacement. Expanding into the value retail segment could reshape this dynamic. “BigBasket’s original model was this. Now you see even quick commerce looking this way. They are going behind DMart’s target group, to beat the perception that quick commerce is priced on the higher side. Amazon India’s original play in groceries had also taken this approach,” Satish Meena, adviser at Datum Intelligence, told TOI.
