A nine-month old startup is racing past Reliance, Tata and Zomato backed startups in the 10-min delivery market

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A nine-month old startup is racing past Reliance, Tata and Zomato backed startups in the 10-min delivery market
  • The competition in the Indian quick commerce sector has been toughening up since last year.
  • Grofers rebranded itself to Blinkit after Zomato’s investment, while Swiggy pledged $700 million towards its 10 minute delivery ambition.
  • Zepto witnessed a whopping 946% user growth between December 2021 and March 2022.
  • People between the age bracket of 25 and 35 are the most active users of delivery apps promising fast and 10 minutes delivery.
The Indian quick commerce industry has been picking up pace after mainstream players like Swiggy, and Tata-owned BigBasket entered the market. Until the first half of 2021, Reliance-backed Dunzo was the only prominent player in this domain while Zepto was still finding its place with its revolutionary 10 minute delivery.

But, a lot has happened since then. One of the top players in the market, Grofers rebranded itself to Blinkit to showcase its 10-minute delivery ambition. Powered by Zomato’s investment, Swiggy too pledged $700 million towards this domain, while BigBasket kickstarted 20-minute delivery options.

Thanks to big names, big money entering the market, valuations too improved not the least due to the increasing demand for these services. Zepto — a company founded by two teenagers who dropped out of Stanford — is now valued at $900 million.

The users themselves are lapping up the fast delivery options - thereby expanding the market. Bengaluru-based market research firm RedSeer recently reported that India’s 10-15 minute delivery market is anticipated to reach $5.5 billion by 2025.

“When we analyzed data from our keyboard users, we realized that Zepto, although a relatively new entrant in the 10-minute delivery space registered such astounding growth in terms of the user base, leaving behind older players such as Dunzo, Blinkit (erstwhile Grofers), and Big Basket,” said Tabrez Alam, chief data and strategy officer at Bobble AI.


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Zepto stands at the first spot in terms of user addition

Zepto stands at the first spot in terms of user addition
BI India

In spite of more established players offering quick deliveries, Zepto is adding more users. According to a recent report by Bobble AI Data Intelligence Division, Zepto witnessed a whopping 946% user growth between December 2021 and March 2022. It was followed by Dunzo and Bigbasket.

Zepto might also be gaining from the low-base effect since it’s a new player. Bigbasket was founded in 2011, Blinkit in 2013 and Dunzo in 2014 offering groceries with multiple delivery options for the customers. However, for the latter three, 10-minute delivery is a step up from their existing delivery services whereas for Zepto, it is the main offering.

Swiggy Instamart, which too offers 10 minutes delivery, has not been included in the report.

Dunzo, BigBasket and Blinkit are catching up

Dunzo, BigBasket and Blinkit are catching up
BI India

Zepto also had the highest active users on their app on a monthly basis between December 2021 and March 2022, the report added. The company had an open rate of 76% in January 2022, however, it has been declining since then. Open rate is the percentage of people, who installed the app, that opened it at least once during a selected time period. In this case, it’s one month.


The open rate for other platforms has either remained consistent or increased. Dunzo occupied the second spot in March 2022, with 46% open rate. This however is not an apples to apples comparison since Zepto is a pure play quick commerce app, unlike others which have other offerings too.
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Most app users are below the age of 35

Most app users are below the age of 35
BI India

The users of these apps are mostly between the ages of 25-35, the report said. This is followed by the 18 to 25-year-olds. On top of the list of most ordered items are milk, cooking oil, sugar, curd, ice, bread, onion, cakes, atta (flour) and potato chips - the items they can’t wait for more than 10 minutes for.