Walmart-owned Flipkart, Amazon are squeezing India’s quick commerce startups

India’s quick commerce market is booming, with demand more than doubling for some players. But the fast-delivery push by Flipkart and Amazon is raising the stakes in an already crowded space where profitability remains under pressure.

Flipkart, one of India’s largest e-commerce players entered quick commerce later than local rivals such as Blinkit, Swiggy, and Zepto. But it has now crossed more than 800 dark stores (distribution centers for online shopping) this week, TechCrunch has learned, and is looking to double that by the end of 2026, according to UBS.

The expansion comes as India’s quick commerce sector enters a more intense phase of competition. The strain is reflected in recent developments, including the departure of a co-founder at Swiggy this week, as companies reassess strategy amid rising competition and costs.

The Walmart-owned company debuted in quick commerce with Flipkart Minutes in August 2024, offering deliveries across categories in as little as 10 minutes. Since then, the sector has expanded rapidly. More than 6,000 dark stores are now in operation, leading to significant overlap among players in major cities and intensifying competition, Bernstein said in a report earlier this week.

Beyond major cities

Flipkart’s network in India remains smaller than that of market leader Blinkit, which has over 2,200 dark stores, according to Bernstein. However, Flipkart is betting on expanding beyond major cities to drive growth. This is unlike Blinkit, which plans to scale to 3,000 dark stores by 2027 while focusing on its top 10 cities.

“Flipkart has this Walmart DNA,” said Satish Meena, founder of Gurugram-based consumer insights firm Datum Intelligence. “Walmart’s DNA is always about expanding the total addressable opportunity to dominate by expanding the market.”

Flipkart is already seeing traction beyond major cities, with 25–30% of its quick commerce orders now coming from small towns, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Orders per dark store have also grown about 25% month-on-month, the person said.

However, growth in quick commerce remains concentrated in larger cities. Most demand, Bernstein said, continues to be driven by big cities, where higher population density supports faster deliveries and better utilization of dark stores, even as expansion into smaller towns gathers pace.

That dynamic also underpins profitability. The top eight cities in India account for over 3,800 dark stores operated by the five largest players, with about 3,600 of them having the potential to be profitable, according to Bernstein.

“Metro markets obviously are better in return ratios, better in profitability because of higher throughput,” said Karan Taurani, executive vice president at Elara Capital, a London-headquartered investment bank and brokerage firm. “This business is all about higher throughput, and for now, that is coming largely from metro markets.”

Still, some analysts see a longer-term opportunity beyond major cities. “Non-metros (small towns) can give a surge if companies expand beyond groceries and offer a wider range of items at faster speeds,” said Datum’s Satish Meena. “Flipkart is betting on that.”

Nevertheless, scaling beyond big cities will take time. Quick commerce is currently viable in about 125 cities, with dark stores typically taking six to 12 months to reach maturity and profitability, said Aditya Soman, a senior research analyst at CLSA, a Hong Kong-based brokerage. Many of the newer stores in smaller towns are still in the ramp-up phase, he added.

Amazon, which entered India’s quick commerce market in late 2024 shortly after Flipkart’s debut, is also ramping up its presence. The e-commerce giant has rolled out around 450–500 dark stores so far, with about 330–370 currently operational, according to UBS, as it looks to tap into growing demand for faster deliveries.

Pressure mounting on incumbents

Flipkart is not just relying on dark-store expansion to compete but also aggressive pricing. The company is offering some of the highest discounts in the segment — around 23–24% across categories, based on a sample basket analyzed by Jefferies last month — as it looks to attract users in a market where price and convenience remain key drivers of demand.

The pressure from such strategies seems to be working. Brokerage firm JM Financial recently warned that Swiggy’s quick commerce business is caught in a “growth-versus-profitability deadlock” and risks destroying shareholder value, adding that a takeover by a larger, better-capitalized player may be the best outcome for investors.

Shares of Eternal, which owns Blinkit, are down about 15% so far this year, while Swiggy has fallen over 29%, even as Zepto is preparing to go public on Indian stock exchanges later this year.

The entry and expansion of large players such as Flipkart and Amazon are reshaping the competitive landscape. “Quick commerce is no longer in a startup phase — it has become a big players’ game,” said Ankur Bisen, a senior partner at retail consultancy Technopak Advisors.

He added that the sector’s economics and limited differentiation could eventually drive consolidation, as companies compete for the same set of customers in a discount-heavy market.

Amazon, Flipkart, and Swiggy did not respond to requests for comment. Eternal declined to comment, while Zepto said it could not comment due to a silent period following its IPO filing.