'Slow' ain't steady in retail anymore: How kiranas are fast losing out to Q-comm

Quick commerce platforms, including top players like Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart, hold just 1 per cent of the overall $570 billion Indian grocery market, but are posing a significant threat to the traditional kirana retail, which controls over 90 per cent market share, due to their attractive selling proposition of delivering goods within 10-20 minutes. The report ‘State of Quick Commerce Market, 2024: Impact on Kirana Stores’ by retail consultancy Datum Intelligence highlights that $1.28 billion worth of kirana sales are expected to shift to quick commerce in 2024, accounting for 21 per cent of sales on these platforms. Additionally, over 82 per cent of buyers had moved a fourth of kirana purchases to quick commerce and 5 per cent respondents had completely stopped buying from kirana shops. The Confederation of All India Traders has also released a white paper in which the trade body highlighted that quick commerce has captured 25–30 per cent of the market traditionally dominated by kirana stores, pushing many of these small retailers to the brink of closure.