Amazon gears up for 15-minute daily essentials delivery pilot in Bengaluru

New Delhi: E-commerce giant Amazon is rolling up its sleeves to start, this month, a pilot of quick delivery of daily essentials "in 15 minutes or less," a move that would mark its entry into the booming quick commerce market in India, where players like blinkit and Zepto have tasted runaway success.

Samir Kumar, Country Manager, Amazon India, said that the company is looking at 'selection with speed' as its edge.

"While we focus on implementing our strategy to offer the largest selection at the fastest speeds and greatest value to customers in every single pincode across the country, we are excited to start a pilot to give our customers a choice to get their everyday essentials in 15 minutes or less," Kumar said.

Amazon's strategy has focused on "selection, value and convenience," and the overall vision is to build a large profitable business in India, he asserted.

The Amazon veteran, who is now leading India operations as country manager following the resignation of Manish Tiwary, noted that the company has millions of customers across the country who "trust" Amazon and "will look forward to this convenience."

According to the company, the pilot will begin in Bengaluru.

Amazon's latest move assumes significance as the quick commerce market in India is yielding explosive growth and driving major shifts in consumer behaviour.

According to a recent report by Datum Intelligence, the quick commerce market size is expected to reach USD 40 billion by 2030, a jump from USD 6.1 billion in 2024.

"Nearly half (46%) of respondents report reduced spending at Kirana shops, indicating a shift in customer behaviour towards quick commerce platforms," the report noted.

The quick commerce market is projected to capture approximately USD 1.28 billion of Kirana sales by 2024, accounting for 21% of total sales on these platforms, the report further said.

Kumar said e-commerce in India offers "a ton of opportunity" as it is a small segment of the overall market, something also true globally. Factors like growing seller community here, quality manufacturing, enabling policies, and young entrepreneurs combined with the power of technology offer a massive runway for growth, he said.

"We get excited about it. We are quadrupling our goal because we believe it's achievable in the next five years and I will be surprised if we don't exceed that goal in the next few years," he said, as the company pledged its commitment to enabling USD 80 billion in cumulative exports from India by 2030. The new vision marks an ambitious scale-up—near quadrupling—from the target so far of USD 20 billion by 2025.

Artificial intelligence and emerging technologies represent the next frontier of growth, he added.

On smaller retailers levelling allegations of deep discounts and preferred sellers being given priority on the platform, as well as CCI scrutiny on violations of local competition laws, Kumar emphasised that the company runs "a very compliant business" and has an unwavering focus on customers, which together will serve the company well in the long term.

"We obsess over our customers. So for me, protecting the customer experience and making sure we do the right things with the customer in terms of providing them the largest assortment, giving them the best value, and providing them the fastest speed is going to be paramount," he said.

Kumar cited Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' mantra that, as a large company, it is Amazon's responsibility to make sure that small and medium businesses are also thriving.

"Anywhere we operate our business, we are scrutinised around the world...and as Jeff (Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder) always says, as a big company, our responsibility is to make sure that small and medium businesses are also thriving with us," he said.