Not just groceries: Blinkit, Zepto & others turn festive bazaars on your phone

August 9 this year was Raksha Bandhan, the festival symbolising the timeless bond between siblings. For quick commerce (q-commerce) platforms in India, however, the occasion strengthened their bonds of business.

By noon, the Tata Group-owned platform BigBasket had already sold more rakhis than it did in two full days last year. “We saw a 2.1x jump in sales,” said Seshu Kumar Tirumala , the platform’s chief buying and merchandising officer. “Smartwatches and Bluetooth earphones performed very well. We also saw a rise in silver rakhis and rakhis for pets.”

Rival Zepto claimed “a new record for rakhi sales this year, selling over 820 a minute at peak hour — more than twice of last year’s sales”, said co-founder and CEO Aadit Palicha .

Swiggy Instamart, which partnered with Kalyan Jewellers for silver rakhis, saw overall rakhi sales surge 3.5x year-on-year and 8x for hampers, while Flipkart Minutes and Eternal (the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit) also claimed a record rise in gift packs and hampers.

Raksha Bandhan was just the start of the festive period. This month also saw Janmashtami, for which Instamart listed jaap maala bags and mayur singhasans , alongside Lord Krishna outfits, jhoolas and peacock crowns, which always see an uptick in demand this time of the year.

Blinkit said its festive categories already include mata ki chunri , pooja backdrops and betel nuts, all of which are in great demand among lastminute buyers.

Likewise, on Independence Day, Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart all doled out 50-70% discounts on groceries, electronics, mobile phones and daily essentials — dropping incentives such as cashbacks and EMIs to bring in consumers.

Q-commerce to e-commerce
Interestingly, all these players initially started out as 10-minute grocery delivery platforms, but gradually pivoted to online supermarkets that offer everything — from electronics to apparel and home furnishing to jewellery. The shift is indicative of changing shopping patter ns among consumers, while also showing how nimble platforms chase market share and profits in a changing world.

If Zepto, Instamart and Blinkit formed the ‘big three’ last year, the market now has seven players competing. Joining the original troika a re BB Now, Amazon Now, JioMart and Flipkart Minutes, all of which are aggressively focusing on 10-12 minute deliveries.

In a crowded environment, with everybody promising essentially the same service, what keeps them from becoming clones? One differentiating factor is price. Each player believes that discounts between 50% and 80% will bring them closer to customer acquisition and retention.

“Steep discounting, which can lead to volume growth and bring in newer customers, not just in untapped smaller markets, but also in metros, is the route to profitability,” explained Anand Ramanathan , partner and consumer industry leader at Deloitte South Asia.

Customer acquisition plans
On Swiggy’s investor call last month, Amitesh Jha , chief executive at Instamart, told analysts that the platform “will continue to be competitive to make sure that we are acquiring customers. The level of runway of growth we have should allow us to be more measured in our approach”.

Just days before that, Eternal’s chief financial officer Akshant Goyal had said on the earnings call: “We’ve been fairly clear on this one… we’ll respond to the market… making sure that we maintain our leadership position is important for us.”

The competition among rival q-commerc e brands is just the first round in a long battle; the bigger challenge will come once they go up against established players from other segments, such as jewellery, fashion, home décor and appliances.

Management consulting firm Kearney said in a June report that the rapid delivery model is taking bites out of traditional retail. It said that a majority of sales on q-commerce platforms are happening at the cost of modern trade and e-commerce, followed by general trade.

The report added that price discounting on q-commerce platforms is anywhere between 6-9% in general, compared with 2-5% at neighbourhood stores. Also, instant delivery platforms are driving premiumisation in categories such as gifting, personal care and household products.

Preparations in place
The race for numbers is also translating to the platforms optimising delivery cycles, increasing tier-2 and tier-3 reach, as well as stepping up seasonal hiring to capitalise on the demand momentum between now and Diwali.

Amazon announced that it created more than 1.5 lakh seasonal jobs on the eve of peak festive season, both direct and indirect, at its fulfilment and sort centres, and lastmile delivery networks. “This festive season, we continue to be focused on providing fast and reliable deliveries to customers in every serviceable pin code across India,” said Abhinav Singh , vice-president, operations, Amazon India and Australia.

So, what’s next?
Walmart-owned Flipkart’s quickcommerce arm Flipkart Minutes said in a statement that “it is upbeat about the festive season prospects”, after witnessing strong momentum during Raksha Bandhan, Independence Day and Janmashtami.

The platform said it is doubling order volumes every 45 days, expanding to high-demand cities and deepening brand partnerships to include electronics, lifestyle products and smartphones.

And brands clearly see instant to be the model that carries them into the future. Eternal’s q-commerce arm Blinkit overtook the group’s Zomato’s food delivery business in the June quarter in both gross and net order value. The company announced that Blinkit’s gross order value (GOV) went up to Rs 11,821 crore, ahead of Zomato’s Rs 10,769 crore for the quarter.

The future, it would appear, belongs to the fast movers.