Myntra, India’s largest fashion e-commerce platform, is trialling a four-hour delivery service in four Indian cities, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch, a dramatic acceleration from its standard 2-3 day delivery timeframe as the surge of quick commerce reshapes consumer behavior.
The Flipkart Group-owned firm is piloting the fast-tracked delivery service in cities including Bengaluru and New Delhi, one source told us. The company plans to expand the four-hour delivery to numerous Indian cities by year-end, our sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the information is not public.
The expansion into faster delivery comes amid the rise of quick commerce in India, where a group of firms are increasingly gaining marketshare in categories including grocery and office supplies with 10-15 minute delivery times. Some of these firms are exploring item returns, signaling plans to expand in fashion, a category with high return rates.
Myntra’s push also reflects Flipkart’s agility in India’s e-commerce race. Seeing the fast adoption of quick commerce in India, the Walmart-owned firm recently responded by entering the fast delivery race. Amazon, Flipkart’s chief rival in India, has so far avoided joining this race.
Myntra, which has traditionally delivered items to consumers in 2-3 days, has been attempting to shorten delivery times over the past two years. Its Express service, for instance, has been delivering products to consumers within 24 to 48 hours in select Indian cities.
An internal assessment by Myntra has found a significant increase in consumers’ propensity to complete purchases when offered shorter delivery times, according to one of the sources.
Myntra didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fashion has traditionally proven to be a challenging category for e-commerce firms in India due to the large selection of assortments and higher rejection rates by customers. Myntra reported approximately 40 million annual transacting users last year, according to information provided to the Economic Times.
During the trial period of the quick commerce service, Myntra is offering a smaller selection of items to customers.
Quick commerce startups are making deeper inroads in India, attracting customers with convenience. Zomato-owned BlinkIt, Tata-owned BigBasket’s BB Now, StepStone-backed Zepto and Swiggy’s Instamart are collectively operating at an annualised run rate of over $6 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), according to TechCrunch’s estimates, up from about $2.5 billion last year.
The rise of quick commerce has prompted many analysts and investors to speculate that it could make a broader impact on the overall e-commerce sector in India. E-commerce firms recorded sales of approximately $50 billion last year, according to industry estimates.
JPMorgan analysts said in a note this month that quick commerce firms have “rapidly been gaining share from the three main incumbents: offline or general trade, modern trade retailers, and other e-commerce players.”
Zepto anticipates a growth of 150% in the next 12 months, TechCrunch reported last month.