What is Quick Commerce and Why D2C Brands Can’t Ignore It in 2025?
You ran out of toothpaste in the morning when you were already late for the office. You order it from Blinkit, Zepto, or any other quick commerce platform; you get it in 10-30 minutes. This is the convenience that Quick Commerce offers to its customers. Blinkit even delivered an iPhone 16 on the launch date in 10 minutes in September last year. This is the time we’ve come to because of the technological advancements and our need for quick convenience.
From getting groceries in hours and days to minutes, quick commerce is changing the online retail scenario in India rapidly. Quick commerce now accounts for 70-75% of e-grocery orders in 2025, up from 35% in 2022. The rapid growth we are seeing started during COVID when people were more keen on getting essentials quickly to save time.
First, let’s understand what quick commerce is.
What is Quick Commerce, and how does it work?
Quick Commerce is a delivery service where essential items such as groceries, personal care and other daily essentials are delivered in a short period of time. Typically, this time is under 30 minutes. Quick commerce platforms have warehouses in different areas, like dark stores, where they store the goods depending on the area and demand and, on receipt of an order, deliver it quickly.
In this article, we’ll be going through the need for D2C brands to be on Quick commerce platforms in 2025.
Why D2C brands need to be on quick commerce platforms
In today’s competitive world, where everyone wants to go viral and be on top of consumers’ minds all the time, quick commerce is an opportunity for D2C brands to expand their reach.
With the advent of smartphones, urbanisation and millennials and Gen-Z giving preference to convenience, a D2C brand’s presence on quick commerce platforms is more important than ever. It will help D2C brands increase their reach to their target audience and will give them an edge over their competitors. This will, in turn, increase their brand’s visibility and sales.
Let’s see which category of D2C brands will have the advantage of being on quick commerce platforms.
Which category of products needs to be on quick commerce
While quick commerce platforms are delivering iPhones and electronics as well within 30 minutes, not every D2C brand needs to have their presence out of FOMO. Those products which can be bought without giving a lot of thought are the best to be on quick commerce platforms. Let’s see which category of D2C brands will benefit the most from having their presence on quick commerce platforms.
Groceries: Brands dealing in fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh produce, groceries, and dairy.
Personal care: Brands dealing in skincare, makeup, and body care products.
Home essentials: Brands dealing in storage solutions and cleaning products.
Beverages: Brands dealing in soft drinks and healthy drinks.
Pet care: Brands dealing in pet care, food, and pet essentials.
Electronic essentials: Brands dealing in small electronics of low order value.
Quick commerce platforms a D2C brand can consider
While it started with Blinkit in 2019, today we have 4-5 major quick commerce platforms which are delivering in tier 1 and some of the tier 2 cities as well.
1. Blinkit
Founded in 2013 as Grofers, it is one of the earliest ones in the quick commerce industry. It was acquired by Zomato in 2022. It has around 46% market share, which is the highest among all the quick commerce platforms.
2. Zepto
Started in 2021, Zepto committed itself to delivering the essentials in 10 minutes. It holds 29% of the market share, the 2nd highest in the quick commerce market.
3. Swiggy Instamart
Launched in 2020, Swiggy Instamart is a part of the food delivery platform Swiggy. It promises delivery in 15-30 minutes.
4. Big Basket
Backed by the Tata Group, BigBasket has been in the industry since 2011 but pivoted to quick commerce in early 2022, seeing the demand for delivery within 30 minutes.
5. Flipkart Minutes
Minutes was launched by Flipkart in August 2024, seeing the rise in demand for quick delivery services. They offer 10-minute delivery of groceries, personal care, household essentials and electronics.
How a D2C brand can onboard on Quick Commerce platforms
Onboarding on a quick commerce platform can be very tedious, as there are a lot of steps. On top of that, one needs to prove that their products are in high demand in terms of speed and frequency. Once a brand is onboarded, listing products, running campaigns, and managing the product listings on the platform are crucial.
We, at The Pencil Advertising help D2C brands manage their product listings and manage the account once they’ve onboarded on a quick commerce platform.
If you’ve a D2C brand whose products are such that they can be listed on quick commerce platforms, we’ll help you!
Connect with us on Instagram or reach out to us here, and our team will reach out to you.
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