Flipkart CEO joins delivery run as firm scales quick-commerce push

Business Standard

a day ago

Flipkart is stepping up its push into quick commerce as it looks to take on entrenched rivals such as Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto. The Walmart-owned e-commerce firm is deepening its focus on fresh produce and direct sourcing, aiming to build an edge in speed, quality, and supply chain control.
Group Chief Executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy recently donned the role of a Flipkart Wishmaster—its in-house delivery personnel—for a day, highlighting the company's intensified efforts to scale Flipkart Minutes, its rapid delivery unit. He was joined by Kabeer Biswas, vice-president of Flipkart Minutes, during a visit to Malur, a key sourcing hub near Bengaluru.
The executives met local farmers who supply produce daily to Flipkart's fulfilment centres, as part of a direct-from-farm sourcing strategy that Flipkart says ensures freshness while supporting smallholder incomes. Among them was a veteran cultivator with 17 years' experience growing capsicum and cucumbers on a four-acre plot, and Padma, a farmer growing coriander, methi, and palak on her three-acre farm for over a decade.
'Following their interactions at the hub, Krishnamurthy and Biswas surprised a few customers by stepping into the role of Wishmasters today, delivering fresh produce to select customers in Bengaluru, including Boganahalli and Bellandur, in a matter of minutes,' the company said.
Flipkart's farm partnerships signal a broader ambition: to create an integrated agri-supply chain that supports inclusive growth while sharpening its competitive position in India's booming quick commerce segment.
The e-commerce firm is accelerating efforts to position itself as a serious contender in the ultrafast delivery race. It is expanding Flipkart Minutes, with the service doubling its business every 45 days and aiming to operate 800 dark stores across the country by the end of the year.
As rivals Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto focus largely on urban consumers, Biswas recently said in an interview that Flipkart Minutes' strategy hinges on scale, speed, value, and deep penetration into tier-2 and tier-3 cities. The company is leveraging its existing logistics and supply chain infrastructure to deliver groceries, daily essentials, and other products within 10 to 15 minutes.
'The value we can deliver per transaction is fundamentally what differentiates us from the competition,' Biswas, vice-president at Flipkart Minutes, told Business Standard recently. 'Given our size and the scale of the business, our ability to deliver value to customers is significantly greater than anybody else's.'
According to Biswas, consumer expectations are shifting, with demand for fast delivery expanding beyond groceries and daily essentials.
Flipkart's quick-commerce business, launched just 10 months ago, is now present in 17 cities—including metros and locations such as Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, and Thane. Amazon has also entered the space with its own offering, Amazon Now.
Analysts estimate Flipkart and Amazon may each need to invest at least $1 billion over the next few years to scale their quick-commerce operations and close the gap with rivals. Blinkit currently leads with 1,301 dark stores, followed by Swiggy Instamart with 1,021, and Zepto with over 750.
$1 trillion opportunity
Kathryn McLay, president and chief executive, Walmart International, recently noted that India, home to 1.4 billion people, represented a major opportunity in e-commerce. India's internet economy is estimated to reach $1 trillion by 2030, driven primarily by e-commerce. Yet online penetration remains relatively low at just 9 per cent, highlighting the headroom for growth. To tap this opportunity, Walmart is continuing to build its Flipkart business, with ongoing investment in both established channels and newer retail formats.
In recent years, McLay said, quick commerce had emerged as a major trend in India, defined by delivery times of 15 minutes or less. Recognising this shift, Flipkart has developed what it calls its 'Minutes business', specifically designed to enable delivery within this new, accelerated timeframe. The company has established 250 fulfilment centres to support this model, marking a significant transformation from its previous one-to-two day delivery promise just a year ago. Today, Flipkart can deliver some orders in as little as three minutes, showcasing remarkable operational speed and agility.
Quick commerce now accounts for around 20 per cent of the e-commerce market in India and is experiencing a 50 per cent annual growth rate.
While Flipkart continues on its path to profitability with its core business, McLay said the firm was investing in emerging areas such as quick commerce as part of its broader growth strategy.
When the rise of quick commerce became evident, McLay said Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy referred to Walmart's operations in China—specifically the cloud-based fulfilment model used by Sam's Club, where 1,000 SKUs (stock-keeping units) are delivered in under an hour.
Flipkart sent a team to China to study this model, which provided insights into optimising fulfilment for speed. Based on that experience, Flipkart aimed to improve the model by scaling up to 6,000 SKUs delivered in less than 15 minutes.
'When we saw the rise in quick commerce, our CEO of Flipkart asked me: where can I learn across Walmart Enterprise about speed? And I pointed him to China,' recalled McLay.