The fast trade market in India (minor delivery model) is entering a fierce competitive phase as giants like Flipkart and Amazon accelerate expansion, putting great pressure on domestic startups.
In recent years, the demand for express delivery in India has increased sharply, even doubling in some businesses. However, this boom also entails profit pressure as operating, delivery and promotion costs are increasing.
Entering the market later than competitors such as Blinkit, Swiggy or Zepto, but Flipkart is accelerating strongly.
This company is owned by Walmart and has operated more than 800 dark stores (fast delivery warehouses) and aims to double this number by the end of 2026.
Along with that, Flipkart launched a 10-minute delivery service called Flipkart Minutes from August 2024, quickly expanding its scale.
Currently, the entire market has more than 6,000 warehouses of this type, leading to overlap in major cities and increasing direct competition.
Not only focusing on big cities, Flipkart is also promoting expansion to small towns, with a strategy said to be "DNA Walmart".
About 25–30% of the company's orders come from suburban areas, with orders per warehouse increasing by about 25% per month.
However, experts believe that growth and profit still mainly come from large cities, where high population density helps optimize operation.
It is estimated that India's 8 largest cities account for the majority of revenue and have higher profit margins thanks to large order volumes.
Meanwhile, Amazon entered the market at the end of 2024, but was not left out. The company has deployed about 450–500 warehouses, of which more than 300 points are operating, to take advantage of the increasing demand for fast delivery.
Notably, Flipkart also competes with a strong price strategy, with price reductions of up to 23–24% in many product categories. This puts domestic Indian startups in a difficult position, when they have to balance between growth and profit.
In fact, some companies are under great pressure. Eternal's shares (Blinkit's owner) have fallen by about 15% since the beginning of the year, while Swiggy has fallen by more than 29%.
Experts warn that the fast trade model may fall into a deadlock if it does not find a balance between expansion and financial efficiency.
Analysts believe that the market is entering a new phase, when the game no longer belongs to startups but passes to large corporations.
In the context of increasingly small differences between platforms, the possibility of mergers and acquisitions in the industry is inevitable.
Although long-term potential is still large, especially in small towns, expansion takes time. A dark store can take 6 - 12 months to reach a breakeven point.
Therefore, the fast trade race in India is forecast to have many fluctuations in the coming time.
