Athira Sethu
Kochi, 9 October 2024
Nykaa, a popular beauty retailer, is testing a 10-minute delivery service in the western suburb of Borivali, Mumbai. The burgeoning quick commerce wave sees companies racing to increase deliveries as rapidly as possible across different kinds of product lines.
Other companies are also joining this fast delivery trend. For example, the meat brand, Licious, is offering ready-to-eat food deliveries within about 15 minutes in some areas of Gurgaon, and the fashion platform, Myntra is testing its four-hour delivery service in cities like New Delhi and Bengaluru.
The demand for quick delivery is further seen to be increasing as the beauty segment, in particular, is witnessing huge sales through rapid delivery platforms such as Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, and BigBasket.
Nykaa plans to scale up 10-minute delivery services to more places in Mumbai with some plans of new brand name for this service.
A senior executive in the quick commerce industry said kajal and skincare products are among the items that have gained popularity in this fast-paced delivery model, but affordable beauty products are of interest, too. With more companies opting for quicker deliveries, “it is also pushing other categories such as fashion and home decor further, closer to people’s doorsteps.”
About 5% of the products at Nykaa will come under quick commerce category, items that consumers often order in to be delivered the same day. Currently, Nykaa is offering same-day delivery on orders that come before noon, and next-day deliveries on orders placed after noon. In top metro locations, around 10-15% of orders are delivered the same day, and most other orders arrive the next day.
However, beauty products are not the only category for quick commerce. Flipkart and Amazon are launching their own quick delivery services too. Food delivery major Swiggy launched a service called Bolt with deliveries in 10 minutes, while food delivery major Zomato is planning something like that for certain items.
According to experts, quick commerce is indeed altering consumer expectations quite significantly. They would want products like makeup and groceries delivered quickly instead of waiting days for those. Such a trend is stronger in India than in any other country, where a more frequent demand for smaller products or commodities leads to buying habits way different from those in Western nations.
Nykaa is quite optimistic about its speedy deliveries. The company, according to a recent report, is waiting to look forward to improving efficiency in delivery and expects a significant jump in the same-day and next-day deliveries in key cities without much investment. As quick commerce evolves, it becomes an integral part of the buy experience for consumers and is especially on the increase in urban areas.
