Walmart-backed Flipkart crossed 1,000 micro-fulfillment centers for its Minutes service, less than two years after launch, as Amazon, Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart race to dominate India’s fast-growing quick-commerce market.
TL;DR
- Flipkart Minutes now operates 1,000 micro-fulfillment centers and plans to reach 1,500 by the end of 2026.
- Amazon Now is expanding across India with over 500 centers and a target of 1,000-plus.
- India’s quick-commerce market is shifting beyond groceries into electronics, beauty, apparel, and home products.
Flipkart Minutes Expands Its Quick-Commerce Network Across India
Flipkart is moving deeper into India’s quick-commerce market, with its Minutes service now operating 1,000 micro-fulfillment centers across the country.
The milestone comes less than two years after the Walmart-backed e-commerce company launched Minutes in August 2024. Flipkart now plans to expand the network to 1,500 centers by the end of 2026, opening between 75 and 100 new micro-fulfillment centers every month.
The rapid buildout could make Flipkart India’s second-largest quick-commerce network by store count, behind Blinkit, which operates 2,243 centers, according to a recent Jefferies note cited in the provided content.
India’s Quick-Commerce Battle Is Moving Beyond Groceries
India has quickly become one of the world’s most competitive quick-commerce markets, as companies race to deliver groceries, beauty products, electronics, apparel, and daily essentials within minutes.
Flipkart said Minutes is now active in more than 130 cities and 8,000 postal codes. Growth is increasingly coming from smaller cities, where the company said demand jumped more than 4,000% year-over-year after expansion into 90 new cities.
Kunal Gupta, head of Flipkart Minutes, said the service is also changing how customers shop.
“What began as a way to fulfill everyday essentials has evolved into a fundamentally new shopping habit for millions of Indians,” Gupta said. “Customers are not just ordering more; they are ordering differently.”
Amazon Now Intensifies The Race For Fast Deliveries In India
Amazon is also accelerating its quick-commerce push through Amazon Now, which is currently available in more than 15 cities and operates over 500 micro-fulfillment centers.
The company plans to expand the service to 100 cities with more than 1,000 centers, while adding more products beyond groceries, including apparel, electronics, and home items.
Amazon said that 70% of new Prime members are coming from smaller markets. It also said everyday essentials now account for one in every two units shipped on Amazon.in, while Amazon Now is helping increase shopping frequency.
Topics For More Insights
- Amazon Unveils 8 New Visual Search Tools To Make Shopping Feel Instant, Smarter & More Visual
- Amazon, Meta And Smaller UPI Apps Push Back Against PhonePe, Google Pay Dominance In India
- Amazon Joins Netflix And Disney With TikTok-Like Clips On Prime Video To Help Users Find Shows Faster!
- Amazon Launches Alexa+ Podcasts With AI-Generated Hosts!
Flipkart Sees Minutes As An Add-On, Not A Replacement
Flipkart said customers are using Minutes alongside its main e-commerce platform, not instead of it. That gives the company a way to drive more frequent purchases while expanding into fresh produce, daily essentials, beauty, and electronics.
Orders on Flipkart Minutes have grown about 400% year-over-year, while customer retention has increased 20%, according to company figures that were not independently verified. Average order values for fruits and vegetables also rose 30% year-over-year.
The expansion signals how India is becoming a testing ground for the next stage of e-commerce, where quick commerce is no longer just about emergency groceries, but a broader everyday shopping habit.
