Quick Commerce in India: A New Shelf for European Brands

Our last two pieces looked at India's grocery market as a whole, and then narrowed into premium and specialty grocery, the segment built for products like yours. There is a third channel worth understanding before you finalise a go-to-market plan, and it did not exist a few years ago: quick commerce.

What quick commerce actually is

Quick commerce, often shortened to q-commerce, is the model behind apps like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart. Instead of next-day delivery, these platforms promise groceries and daily essentials at your door in 10 to 30 minutes, using a dense network of local dark stores rather than large warehouses.

It started as a pandemic-era convenience play. It has since become one of the fastest-growing parts of Indian retail, and increasingly a serious distribution channel for the same categories that sit on modern trade and specialty grocery shelves: packaged snacks, biscuits, chocolate, and confectionery among them.

The scale of the shift

According to IMARC Group, India's q-commerce market reached USD 3,6 billion in 2024, and is projected to reach USD 106,2 billion by 2033, a compound annual growth rate of 45,60% over that period. That is a steep trajectory, well above the growth rates we have cited for the biscuits and chocolate categories themselves, and it reflects how early this channel still is relative to where it is headed.

The market is still concentrated in India's top metro cities, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chennai, and Hyderabad among them, where dense populations and existing delivery infrastructure make 10 to 20 minute fulfilment viable. This is also where premium and imported grocery demand is already strongest, so the overlap with your target customer is closer than it might first appear.

Why this channel fits imported confectionery and biscuits

Quick commerce rewards categories that suit small-basket, high-frequency purchasing, and that is precisely the shopping pattern around snacking and gifting. A shopper is far more likely to add a premium chocolate bar or a tin of imported biscuits to a 15-minute grocery top-up than to plan a dedicated shopping trip for it.

It also lowers the discovery barrier. A brand does not need a large retail footprint or extensive in-store merchandising to be found on these platforms. Placement within the app, search visibility, and promotional bundling matter more than physical shelf space, which changes what "getting listed" actually requires.

How brands get onto these platforms

Listings on Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart are not typically negotiated brand to platform. They run through the same distribution relationships that get a product into modern trade and specialty grocery, since platforms rely on established distributors and their existing FSSAI compliance, warehousing, and supply chains to stock and replenish dark stores reliably. This is another reason a single point of contact with an established pan-India network matters, rather than a brand trying to open separate conversations with each platform directly.

Where it fits alongside what you already know

Quick commerce is not a replacement for modern trade or specialty grocery, it is a complementary channel. Specialty and premium grocery stores build the discovery and trust that comes with physical presence and curated shelving. Quick commerce builds frequency and convenience once that awareness exists. Brands entering India today are increasingly expected to plan for both from the outset, rather than treating one as a later-stage add-on.

For a European confectionery or biscuit brand evaluating India, quick commerce is no longer a channel to consider once the brand is established. Given how fast IMARC's own figures suggest it is scaling, it is one worth building into the entry strategy from day one.

How OnRoute India fits in

Getting listed on Blinkit, Zepto, or Instamart is not a separate project from getting into modern trade and specialty grocery, it runs through the same distribution relationships, the same FSSAI compliance, and the same supply chain. Our services cover exactly this: connecting your brand to an established, pan-India distribution network and acting as your single point of contact from market entry through to ongoing representation, so quick commerce becomes one more channel your distributor activates, not another relationship you have to build from scratch.

If you want to understand where your brand fits across modern trade, specialty grocery, and quick commerce, get in touch and let's start the conversation.