MUMBAI: Amazon chief Andy Jassy is ramping up the company’s rapid commerce push in India, after losing a lot of ground to local rivals Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto and amid a strong ramp-up of the Minutes app by e-commerce rival Flipkart.Jassy, who is making his first visit to India since taking over as CEO in July 2021, said the global giant will take its Amazon Now instant delivery service to over 300 cities from over 15 currently and build the largest delivery network in minutes. To give some perspective, leading company Blinkit offers its services in over 200 cities, Instamart in over 130 cities, and Zepto in 66 locations currently.“It is (now) our fastest growing e-commerce business unit in India…. We have done that
It has seen orders double every three months since its launch. “What we learned from building it here is now helping us scale it across the United States and around the world,” Jassy said.
Amazon was a late entry into the local spot delivery space — after a pilot launched in December 2024, it has now begun operations in June last year, by which time IPO-bound rivals Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto had already gained significant market share, leveraging first-mover advantage amid widespread consumer adoption of express delivery services.
Flipkart Minutes even expanded to over 130 cities in about two years. Indians today rely on quick commerce apps for their daily dose of morning milk, regular groceries and for last-minute shopping for a host of items like clothes, shoes, jewellery, and electronics accessories. Leading the market is Eternal’s Blinkit which holds nearly half the share with an average of 27.2 million monthly transaction users and 273.9 million orders at the end of the March quarter.
Zepto has 210 million orders followed.The Seattle-based e-commerce giant has pumped in a fresh $300 million in India to support its Express business and is betting on its paid membership service Prime to push its average marketplace users to switch to Now for daily needs. Prime members double their shopping pace once they start using Now, Jassy said. Amazon is expanding its network of fulfillment centers or stores (at more than 500 stores now) to make faster deliveries.