Quick commerce changes the game: Retail Inc joins Q as India shops by the minute
Indians are buying daily necessities and fast-moving consumer goods more frequently and in larger numbers than a few years ago, with researchers and senior executives attributing this to a growing trend of consumers seeking instant gratification, fuelled by burgeoning quick commerce.
Realising the consumer behaviour, mainstream retailers like Reliance Retail and Spencer’s Retail are focusing on online orders and reducing their delivery time. Ecommerce firm Amazon is trying to turn around orders faster, while rival Flipkart has introduced its own quick commerce service.
Data from research firm Kantar released this month reveal that Indians are now shopping 156 times a year for FMCG products — or once every 56 hours. This used to be 80-90 times around five years back, FMCG industry executives said.
In the last four quarters, the number of FMCG packs purchased in a quarter varied between 199 and 202, Kantar said. Around two years back, this was 163-179.
“The size of the monthly grocery shopping basket is coming down every year as consumers are going for need-based purchases due to sheer convenience of quick commerce and other ecommerce platforms and retailers reducing their delivery time,” said Krishnarao Buddha, senior category head for marketing at biscuit and snack maker Parle Products. The number of shopping trips or orders for FMCG is going up by 15-20% every year, Buddha said. He attributed this to need-based consumption habits and houses becoming smaller in the metros and large cities whereby storage space
