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Time of India
16 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Quick commerce fires up record discounts with rivals getting quicker
ETtech Live Events The rapid expansion of online retailers Amazon and Flipkart in the crowded quick commerce sector is pushing discounting across platforms to record highs in an industry battling accelerating price becomes the primary differentiator for these apps with near similar user experience, intense discounting and attendant cash burn are likely to intensify further, according to multiple people in the know .This month, average discounts across categories rose to 20–25% on maximum retail price compared to below 10% two years ago across various quick commerce platforms, including for segments like dairy and groceries, the sources said."Rising competition is the reason for increasing discounts within quick commerce, today there are eight players," Karan Taurani, executive vice president at Elara Capital.'Today there are eight players, unless we see a convergence towards four-five players, this kind of discounting will persist. We had only 3-4 players earlier but now we are seeing the entry of more players including Flipkart and Amazon…I think discounting will persist for some time until the competitive intensity cools off,' Taurani addition to market leaders Blinkit Zepto and Swiggy 's Instamart , others such as Reliance Retail's JioMart, Flipkart Minutes and Amazon Now have also started building a presence in this are of the view that discounts are the highest in the personal care category rising to around 35% discounts on maximum retail price. Other products such as packaged foods, basic staples, home care, beverages also are discounted heavily. 'Dairy has the lowest discount (5%), understandable given it is a lowmargin category and hence, there is limited headroom. Prices vary significantly across players in fresh fruits & vegetables too, albeit we do not include it in our basket due to potential variations in product quality,' said a note by executives point out that with all competing firms being well-capitalised they are not focusing on profitability in the short term. ET had reported in February that the monthly burn for the quick commerce sector across companies had increased to Rs 1,300-1,500 crore – more than doubling in a few months. Burn refers to the rate at which a company spends cash. For the quarter ended March 31, Blinkit parent Eternal saw its net profit plummeting to Rs 39 crore from Rs 175 crore in the year ago period. Its Bengalurubased rival Swiggy's net loss for the quarter nearly doubled to Rs 1,081 crore. Both the companies increased spending on expanding their quick commerce businesses.'There is a massive headroom for growth in quick commerce…and the overall market is expanding as well. The attempt right now is to build a sticky customer base. A lot of effort is also going into building for tier-II and tier-III cities, where platforms are trying to get consumers to try quick commerce for the first time,' a senior quick commerce executive firm Morgan Stanley estimates the size of India's quick commerce sector at $8 billion in 2024, estimating it to expand to $28 billion by 2026 and $57 billion by Flipkart's Minutes, which currently has around 400 dark stores aims to expand its network to 800 micro warehouses for 10-minute deliveries by the end of this year. ET reported on June 13 that Amazon Now has gone live in select pincodes in Bengaluru with 10-15 dark stores on its network, and aims to expand to other cities such as Mumbai and Delhi-NCR as well. Early movers Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart are also expanding their during the company's quarterly earnings call in May, Akshant Goyal, CFO of Blinkit's parent Eternal, said the quick commerce platform will prioritise market share gain even at the cost of short-term per the Jefferies report, average discounts were also higher on bulk-buy offerings from companies like Zepto and Instamart, which operate the Super Saver and Maxxsaver programmes, respectively. Under these offerings, platforms offer greater discounts to users with larger basket sizes – typically over Rs 1,000. For the 10-minute delivery platforms, this results in cost savings in terms of fewer trips and reduced packaging expenses, while also increasing competitiveness with value retailers such as Dmart.
Economic Times
17 hours ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Qcomm fires up discounts with rivals getting quicker
The rapid expansion of online retailers Amazon and Flipkart in the crowded quick commerce sector is pushing discounting across platforms to record highs in an industry battling accelerating losses. As price becomes the primary differentiator for these apps with near similar user experience, intense discounting and attendant cash burn are likely to intensify further, according to multiple people in the know . This month, average discounts across categories rose to 20–25% on maximum retail price compared to below 10% two years ago across various quick commerce platforms, including for segments like dairy and groceries, the sources said."Rising competition is the reason for increasing discounts within quick commerce, today there are eight players," Karan Taurani, executive vice president at Elara Capital. 'Today there are eight players, unless we see a convergence towards four-five players, this kind of discounting will persist. We had only 3-4 players earlier but now we are seeing the entry of more players including Flipkart and Amazon…I think discounting will persist for some time until the competitive intensity cools off,' Taurani added. In addition to market leaders Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy's Instamart, others such as Reliance Retail's JioMart, Flipkart Minutes and Amazon Now have also started building a presence in this space. Analysts are of the view that discounts are the highest in the personal care category rising to around 35% discounts on maximum retail price. Other products such as packaged foods, basic staples, home care, beverages also are discounted heavily. 'Dairy has the lowest discount (5%), understandable given it is a lowmargin category and hence, there is limited headroom. Prices vary significantly across players in fresh fruits & vegetables too, albeit we do not include it in our basket due to potential variations in product quality,' said a note by Jefferies. Accelerated spending Industry executives point out that with all competing firms being well-capitalised they are not focusing on profitability in the short term. ET had reported in February that the monthly burn for the quick commerce sector across companies had increased to Rs 1,300-1,500 crore – more than doubling in a few months. Burn refers to the rate at which a company spends cash. For the quarter ended March 31, Blinkit parent Eternal saw its net profit plummeting to Rs 39 crore from Rs 175 crore in the year ago period. Its Bengalurubased rival Swiggy's net loss for the quarter nearly doubled to Rs 1,081 crore. Both the companies increased spending on expanding their quick commerce businesses. 'There is a massive headroom for growth in quick commerce…and the overall market is expanding as well. The attempt right now is to build a sticky customer base. A lot of effort is also going into building for tier-II and tier-III cities, where platforms are trying to get consumers to try quick commerce for the first time,' a senior quick commerce executive firm Morgan Stanley estimates the size of India's quick commerce sector at $8 billion in 2024, estimating it to expand to $28 billion by 2026 and $57 billion by 2030. Rapid expansion Walmart-owned Flipkart's Minutes, which currently has around 400 dark stores aims to expand its network to 800 micro warehouses for 10-minute deliveries by the end of this year. ET reported on June 13 that Amazon Now has gone live in select pincodes in Bengaluru with 10-15 dark stores on its network, and aims to expand to other cities such as Mumbai and Delhi-NCR as well. Early movers Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart are also expanding their during the company's quarterly earnings call in May, Akshant Goyal, CFO of Blinkit's parent Eternal, said the quick commerce platform will prioritise market share gain even at the cost of short-term per the Jefferies report, average discounts were also higher on bulk-buy offerings from companies like Zepto and Instamart, which operate the Super Saver and Maxxsaver programmes, respectively. Under these offerings, platforms offer greater discounts to users with larger basket sizes – typically over Rs 1,000. For the 10-minute delivery platforms, this results in cost savings in terms of fewer trips and reduced packaging expenses, while also increasing competitiveness with value retailers such as Dmart.
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Karnataka moots freezing no. of computer science seats in engg colleges
Image used is for representational purposes only BENGALURU: Karnataka is considering a freeze on the increase of computer science (CS) seats in engineering colleges across the state. Higher education minister MC Sudhakar said the move is being weighed in the light of recent developments in Telangana, where a similar restriction has been upheld by the high court. Telangana high court recently dismissed a batch of writ petitions filed by private engineering colleges that had challenged the govt's decision to reject proposals for increased CS intake for 2024–25 academic year. The court upheld the state's authority to regulate engineering education. 'Several colleges (in Karnataka) are indiscriminately increasing computer science seats, often by converting civil and mechanical engineering seats — streams that are seeing reduced demand — into CS seats,' the minister said. 'If this trend continues, we'll have lakhs of engineering graduates from CS and related disciplines. Should the industry face a downturn, most of them could be left unemployed. We have to prevent that outcome or risk being blamed for our inaction,' the minister added. AICTE-relaxed norms reason for CS seat surge The number of CET seats in computer science and related programmes stood at around 24,000 in 2021-22 and rose to approximately 39,500 last year. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Want Lower Bills Without Changing a Thing? elecTrick - Save upto 80% on Power Bill Learn More Undo In total, there were 79,907 CET seats across all disciplines last year. The seat matrix for 2025–26 is yet to be announced. This surge in CS seats has been attributed to relaxed norms from national regulatory body AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education). Colleges have been allowed to start or expand CS programmes with relative ease, including by converting seats from other disciplines. 'We're closely observing developments in Telangana. We're reviewing the court judgment and the background before making a final call,' Sudhakar added. Last year, Karnataka wrote to AICTE requesting a cap on the increase in CS seats. However, the request was declined. 'AICTE gave colleges two options — increase seats by meeting infrastructure and faculty norms or reallocate seats from other streams,' explained a Bengalurubased engineering college principal. 'Riding the wave of demand for CS courses, colleges rushed to convert seats. Some autonomous colleges now have up to 1,000 seats in CS and allied fields. But with placements seeing a downturn this year, many institutions have decided not to expand further. Colleges are struggling to place students, and fear this could impact admissions as well,' he said.
