If a Swiggy or Blinkit delivery rider ever sped past you on the road, taking wrong turns and zooming into one way lanes, it probably involves 10 minute grocery deliveries. Despite those risks which still don't guarantee a delivery within the 10 minute timeframe, Blinkit slashed the fees of riders from Rs 25 to Rs 15 per order, triggering a strike that forced it to close some stores in Delhi and NCR.
Now ousted BhartPe founder who was also replaced as a judge on Shark Tank, Ashneer Grover has shared his two cents on how 10-minute delvieries aren't economically viable.
Short timeframes, shorter margins
In a tweet like many others on fellow startup founders and their businesses, Grover wrote how quick commerce has low margins and low ticket size.
He added that these issues cannot be solved by reducing the delivery fees for riders, and netizens followed suite with their own grievances against 10 minute deliveries.
Some mentioned how they waited for almost an hour before cancelling and buying the same items from a neighborhood store.
Others complained that Swiggy or Blinkit almost never deliver in the 10 minute window, and they need to wait for 30 minutes during peak hours.
The wait to benefit from quick commerce
While Swiggy doesn't report its Instamart figures separately, losses at both Zepto and Dunzo have widened over time.
Dark stores which generate cash also spend most of it on rent and other variable costs, while they take 14 to 18 months to turn profitable.
Firms need a more dark stores servicing smaller radiuses to deliver within 10 minutes, and this is where the distance-based incentive that Blinkit riders are up against hits them hard.
(To receive our E-paper on WhatsApp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
