minute nation: How quick commerce rewired the way we shop

A silent revolution transformed Indian shopping between August 2020 and December 2021: the rise of quick commerce. Though initially a pandemic experiment, 10-minute delivery has exploded into a $57 billion market, fundamentally changing how we shop, how brands sell, and how quickly companies are trying to achieve profitability.

Swiggy launched Instamart in Gurgaon on August 10, 2020, promising deliveries in 30-45 minutes. That said, the reality is a bit more complicated. this launch was largely overshadowed by the daily surges of Covid-19 with no end in sight. While fast grocery deliveries were undoubtedly valuable during those months, the focus remained on when vaccines would become available and when life might return to normal, allowing people to safely visit local stores again.

As the pandemic continued, Instamart expanded its reach and, by mid-2021, was offering deliveries in just 10-15 minutes. Then, in June 2021, Zepto entered the market, guaranteeing deliveries within 10 minutes. Some questioned the need for such rapid delivery, particularly during the deadly Delta wave, when nearly 400,000 people had already died from Covid-19. In such a bleak environment, changing consumer behavior was not top of mind for many.