Amazon chief Andy Jassy presses Quick-commerce pedal

MUMBAI: Amazon chief Andy Jassy is stepping up the company’s quick commerce push in India, having lost a lot of ground to local competitors Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto and amid an aggressive ramp up of Minutes by e-commerce rival Flipkart.Jassy, who is on his first visit to India since assuming the CEO’s office in July 2021 said the global giant will take its instant delivery service Amazon Now to more than 300 cities from over 15 currently and build the largest delivery-in-minutes network. To give some perspective, leading player Blinkit delivers in more than 200 cities, Instamart in over 130 cities and Zepto across 66 locations at present.“It’s (Now) our fastest growing e-commerce business unit in India…..we’ve seen orders double every quarter since its launch. And what we have learned building it here is now helping us scale it across the US and around the world,” Jassy said.

Amazon was late to enter the local instant delivery space—following a pilot that was launched in Dec 2024, Now started operations in June last year, by which time rivals Blinkit, Instamart and IPO-bound Zepto had already gained major share of the market, benefiting from the first-mover advantage amid wide consumer adoption of quick delivery services.Even Flipkart Minutes has expanded to over 130 cities in about two years. Indians today rely on quick commerce apps to get their daily dose of morning milk and regular groceries and for last-minute shopping of a range of items such as apparel, shoes, jewellery and electronics accessories. The market is led by Eternal’s Blinkit which holds nearly half of the share with 27.2 million average monthly transacting users and 273.9 million orders at the end of the March quarter. Zepto follows with 210 million orders.The Seattle-based e-commerce giant has pumped in a fresh $300 million in India to fuel quick commerce business and is betting on its paid membership service Prime to get its regular marketplace users to shift to Now for daily needs. Prime members triple their shopping frequency once they start using Now, Jassy said. Amazon is widening its network of micro-fulfilment centres or stores (at over 500 stores now) to make faster deliveries.