Flipkart to deliver in “Minutes”

The posterboy of India’s start-up world, Flipkart has unleashed yet another interesting service, “Minutes”. The e-commerce giant will deliver a wide range of products across categories such as groceries, electronics, smartphones and everything in between in 15 minutes or less.

The service has been launched in select and dense residential pockets of Bangalore, such as Bellandur, HSR Layout, Kadubeesanahalli and Gunjur, which are also home to companies operating in IT & ITES sectors.

Flipkart would be taking Zepto, Swiggy’s Instamart and Zomato’s Blinkit head-on with its Quick Commerce service.

The Wal-Mart owned e-commerce giant plans to open atleast 100 fulfilment centres across India for its Q-Commerce play in the next 12 months or less.

Being a pioneer in e-commerce operations in India since its inception in 2007, the company knows exactly what India shops online and from where Indians log-in. Flipkart’s strength stretches beyond the top 50 cities in India and caters to the varied needs of those residing in Tier 2/3/4 towns.

Late entrant, Amazon does not seem to be in a hurry to get in to the Q-commerce play, though market news is abuzz that it may take a pie from the investors of Zepto, currently valued at USD 3.6 Bn.

That way, the company need not build a business ground up and yet, cater to the rising demand of discerning Indian shoppers, especially in top metro cities, which is where Zepto concentrates. Amazon remains a favourite for those residing in metro cities with its same day / 1-day / 2-day delivery promise.

Blinkit, formerly known as Grofers, currently operates over 600 dark stores across India. The company now owned by Zomato plans to increase its count to over 2,000 by 2026, according to Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa,

Walmart acquired a 77% take in Flipkart in 2018 for a whopping USD 16 Bn, at a staggering valuation of USD 21 Bn.

Earlier in 2007, the brick and mortar American giant had forged a JV with the Bharti (AirTel) group for an offline foray to open large Hypermarkets.

With its fortunes dwindling in offline retail after a run of 6 years, Walmart took a controlling stake in the Indian start-up, thereby allowing it to enjoy early success and deep penetration across the country to deliver its products.

Subsequently, Walmart severed its 7-year relationship with the Bharti Group in 2013 and sold its offline operations to Flipkart.

Speaking during an Investors call in Jun. ‘23, Walmart CFO John David Rainey had said that Flipkart along with its UPI-based payments company PhonePe could be poised to be valued at over USD 100 Bn business in the future.

The Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of Flipkart for 2023 was USD 23 Bn with a valuation of USD 40 Bn while PhonePe was valued at USD 12 Bn with a revenue of INR 2,914 Cr.

Amazon, which entered India in 2012 reported a GMV of USD 18 Bn for FY 23, closing in on Flipkart’s closely held terrain.

The profitability of Q-commerce remains bleak, let alone being a suspect. It is almost impossible to make operational profits delivering products in less than 15 mins, by offering discounts along with convenience of doorstep delivery.

Like many other offerings by various global digital-first companies in the worldwide arena, whether convenience (of consumers) will precede the cost of acquiring products for a small fee, such as the way Swiggy and Zomato have finally settled on, is a story who’s screenplay is yet to be written.