In 10 Minutes Or Less! How India Shops Today

Picture this: It’s 9:50 PM. You’ve just sat down for a movie when you realise you’re out of popcorn. You reach for your phone, scroll past the streaming apps, and open a quick commerce app instead. By the time the opening credits roll, your snacks are at the door.

Welcome to Quick Commerce, the revolution that turned “instant gratification” into a business model.

The Birth of the 10-Minute Empire

Back in the early 2010s, online grocery meant waiting a day or two for your order to arrive. Then came a new breed of startups asking a different question: what if we delivered everything in ten minutes?

That spark lit the fuse for a logistics revolution. As consumers demanded faster deliveries, India’s quick commerce (Q-commerce) players, Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart, transformed how cities shop.

Today, over 60% of consumers expect same-day delivery, with a growing chunk wanting it within an hour.

How the Fast Got Faster

Behind every “delivered in 10 minutes” promise is an invisible engine called the dark store, mini warehouses located deep inside neighbourhoods.

In the early days, these stores stocked just 4,000–5,000 items in 2,500 sq. ft spaces. Fast-forward to 2025, and the average dark store now spans 4,000 sq. ft, carries 25,000 SKUs, and serves hundreds of riders zipping through cities.

The average order value (AOV) has also jumped, from ₹200–₹250 to ₹300–₹500+. And ad revenue (once negligible) now accounts for 3% of total income, as brands pay for visibility inside your grocery app.

Meet the Speed Merchants

The Q-commerce battlefield has its own big three:

• Blinkit – 1,300 dark stores, ₹528 AOV, and over 424 million yearly orders.

• Swiggy Instamart – 1,200 dark stores, ₹514 AOV, and 285 million orders.

• Zepto – 1,140 stores, ₹540 AOV, and an eye-popping 60 million monthly customers.

Together, they handle over 40 lakhs orders per day, which is nearly half of India’s e-grocery traffic condensed into 10-minute windows.

Blinkit currently dominates with a 45–52% market share, followed by Instamart (25–27%) and Zepto (21–23%).

But Speed Has a Price Tag

Operating this fast isn’t cheap. A misplaced dark store can close in months. In new cities, customer acquisition costs balloon due to heavy discounts and free delivery wars. Add inventory losses (up to 20% for perishables) and packaging costs (1–2% of AOV), and profits start to evaporate faster than the ice cream they deliver.

Still, investors aren’t hitting the brakes. India’s Q-commerce industry is projected to reach $57 billion by 2030, as companies expand beyond metros.

The Bigger Picture

Globally, Q-commerce started in places like China and Europe, but India’s dense cities, young consumers, and low delivery costs have made it the perfect testing ground. The business model thrives where speed meets scale, and few markets scale like India.

The result? A new kind of ‘kirana store’, one that fits inside your phone. Every 10-minute delivery chips away at traditional retail, changing how people perceive “shopping.”

The Final Countdown

The future of Q-commerce isn’t just about faster deliveries; it’s about what else it can deliver profitably. With dark stores growing, ad revenue rising, and consumers hooked on convenience, India’s quick commerce is evolving from novelty to necessity.

So the next time your midnight cravings hit, remember, what feels like magic is really a $57 billion logistical ballet unfolding in real time.

Because in India today, ten minutes isn’t just a delivery promise, it’s a business strategy.

References

Economic Times
Eternal Annual Report
Swiggy
Business Standard
mint