Flipkart Minutes quick commerce network has hit 1,000 micro-fulfilment centres less than two years after launch, with Walmart’s Indian arm targeting 1,500 by the end of 2026, and it has Amazon breathing down its neck the entire way.
The milestone was announced Wednesday. Orders on the platform have grown about 400% year-on-year, according to Kunal Gupta, head of Flipkart Minutes, who spoke to TechCrunch. Entrackr, citing the company separately, puts that figure at 5x, or 500%; the lower figure comes from Gupta directly. Customer retention is up 20% year-on-year, the company said.
Gen Z is a big part of the story. The cohort now accounts for more than 40% of Flipkart Minutes’ customer base, per Entrackr, citing the company. That is a demographic every rival in this space is watching closely.
How Flipkart Minutes Quick Commerce Is Reshaping What Indians Buy
It is not just who is ordering that has changed, it is what they are ordering. Demand is increasingly concentrated in electronics, beauty, and personal care rather than groceries. Average order values for fruits and vegetables rose 30% year-on-year, and the service now covers more than 130 cities and 8,000 postal codes.
Smaller cities are the growth engine. Markets outside India’s largest metropolitan areas recorded more than 4,000% growth year-on-year, aided by expansion into 90 new cities. Gupta cited Patna, Guwahati, and Siliguri as cities where new stores are ramping faster than expected, and described Lucknow as one of the best-performing markets despite the network not yet covering the full city.
Apparel Resources reports that Flipkart is leaning on its 250 million active users to scale Minutes across these new geographies. The potential prize is substantial: India’s quick-commerce market is projected to reach $65–70 billion in gross merchandise value by 2030, per the same report.
Flipkart plans to open between 75 and 100 micro-fulfilment centres a month. Gupta was direct: ‘We will continue to expand rapidly, will not slow down after 1,000 stores as well, and we are going all in.’
The wider behavioural shift matters too. Gupta told TechCrunch that customers are using the Flipkart Minutes quick commerce service alongside the main Flipkart platform rather than as a substitute, lifting purchase frequency. ‘What began as a way to fulfill everyday essentials has evolved into a fundamentally new shopping habit for millions of Indians,’ he said. ‘Customers are not just ordering more; they are ordering differently.’
Amazon Now Is Not Standing Still
Based on current store counts, Flipkart could become India’s second-largest quick-commerce network by micro-fulfilment centre count, behind Blinkit, which operates 2,243 such centres according to a Jefferies note. Markhub24 puts Blinkit’s market share at approximately 45% by Gross Order Value in Q4 FY25, with Swiggy Instamart at roughly 27% and Zepto at about 21%. Blinkit reached adjusted EBITDA positivity at the unit level in March 2024, a benchmark no rival has yet publicly claimed.
Amazon is trying to close the gap fast. Amazon Now currently operates in more than 15 cities with over 500 micro-fulfilment centres. The Economic Times reports the service is targeting 100 cities with more than 1,000 micro-fulfilment centres, with Entrackr adding that Amazon Now also plans to deploy more than 100 Urban Fulfilment Centres alongside that network. Amazon told TechCrunch that 70% of new Prime members come from smaller markets and that it is on track to double its Prime membership base from 2023 levels by year-end. Everyday essentials now account for one in every two units shipped on Amazon.in.
Flipkart’s EV fleet doubled over the past year, with electric vehicles now accounting for more than 10% of deliveries, per Entrackr. A small number for now, but one that will matter as Indian cities start scrutinising last-mile emissions more seriously.
India already counts more than 5,500 dark stores, according to Bernstein, with analysts projecting that figure reaching roughly 7,500 by 2030 as companies push into smaller cities and broaden their product ranges. The race is less about whether quick commerce has legs in India and more about who locks in the smaller-city customer first. Flipkart has an 18-month head start in several of those markets. Whether that translates to durable share before Amazon’s infrastructure catches up is the question the next 12 months will answer.
