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Q-commerce, also referred to as quick commerce, is a type of e-commerce where emphasis is on quick deliveries, typically in less than an hour.[1] Q-commerce originally started with food delivery and it still represents the largest chunk of the business. It has quickly expanded to other categories particularly for grocery delivery, medicines, gifts, and apparel etc.[2] Since early 2020, the restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 pandemic gave a major boost to q-commerce as it allowed retailers to remain operational via quick home deliveries.[3] These prolonged restrictions resulted in long term consumer behavior shift towards quick deliveries, and established q-commerce as the third generation of commerce.[4]
Companies in q-commerce include Chaldal,Meituan, Gojek, Grab, Delivery Hero, Glovo, BigBasket, Blinkit, Swiggy, Rappi, GoPuff, Instacart, Zepto and Postmates
Grofers made its first pivot in 2013 with its 90-minute delivery concept leading to modern Q-commerce concept.[5][6]
Deliveries of necessities are intended to be provided as quickly as possible; they can occasionally arrive in a matter of minutes.[7] Initially, delivery time hovered around 60 minutes but by 2019 several companies started local warehouses (cloud stores or dark stores) to drive delivery times down towards 20 minutes.[8]
The rapidly growing category offers a large selection of products at any time of day and in particular targets single-person households.[9] It is currently estimated that the Q-commerce market is $300 million and is expected to grow 10 to 15 times over the next five years to touch $5 billion.[10]
From 2023, Q-commerce orders increased, and they make about 40% to 50% of India's e-grocery expenditures in 2024.[11] With delivery times of less than ten minutes, Q-commerce purchases in India now include the selling of high-end goods like the most recent iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. Approximately 55% of festive orders placed in India in 2024 are placed by first-time customers on Q-commerce.[12]
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