Synopsis
Amazon is planning to aggressively expand its 10-minute delivery service, Amazon Now, aiming for market leadership despite moderating quick commerce growth. The ecommerce giant plans to launch in over 100 cities with 1,000 dark stores, emphasising customer experience, wide selection, and speed to compete with rivals like Blinkit and Zepto.Listen to this article in summarized format
“We are in this to win it and are going to be a market leader in the near future,” Kumar said, outlining plans to expand Amazon Now to more than 100 cities and over 1,000 dark stores.
Amazon's push comes as competition in quick commerce intensifies. Both Amazon and Flipkart are expanding aggressively after incumbents Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and IPO-bound Zepto established an early lead in rapid deliveries, capturing a growing share of consumer spending in India's largest cities and challenging traditional ecommerce marketplaces.
While Amazon was among the last large players to enter the category after losing urban shoppers to rivals, Kumar argued that the company deliberately took time to get the model right.
“We were slow out of the gate, but we were not sitting idle. We were figuring out what we should do and how we should serve our customers in this format,” he said. “Once we decided to get there, we got there quickly. But we took our time to build it the right way.”
Rejecting the notion that Amazon had missed the opportunity, Kumar said, "I don't believe we were late to the game because we still believe this is day one for this story. It will play out over the next few years.”
The company is also brushing aside concerns over mounting competition and aggressive discounting in the sector. Rival executives have publicly accused the ecommerce giant of triggering a fresh pricing battle as it expands Amazon Now. Eternal founder Deepinder Goyal recently said in an interview with FT that Blinkit was willing to outspend Amazon. In contrast, Swiggy has said it would sit out any price wars in the quick commerce space.
