How 10-minute deliveries are secretly building brand loyalty

New Delhi: Have you ever opened your Zepto, Blinkit, or Swiggy delivery, arriving in 10 minutes, and found surprises: goodies, coupons, vouchers, or even a Rs 1,000 payment-linked voucher for another site, and then actually used it? That was precisely how brands transformed the final step of delivery into a high-stakes marketing moment. The last mile had become a stage where precision targeting met emotional storytelling, where a subtle nudge at checkout drove both instant sales and long-term loyalty.

Tiny nudges, massive loyalty

Sunitha Natarajan, Director of Digital Strategy at Social Panga, captured the magic perfectly.

“The power of last-mile marketing lies in precision. By nudging a customer right at checkout, brands convert impulse into adoption and set the stage for long-term stickiness. Especially now that Q-comm is a major medium, it has created opportunities for more innovations to enhance customer loyalty. A freebie or coupon facilitates curiosity into trial and trial into habit. In categories where penetration depends on low-unit packs, this is the most effective way to engineer repeat and loyalty. For brands, the ROI is clear; it is not about pushing awareness, it is about collapsing discovery, trial and repeat into the same click.”

Precision was just one part of the equation. Sunitha added. “Q-commerce activations are most effective when they are not treated as a standalone activity but integrated into the brand’s larger shopper-marketing strategy. What makes them powerful is the ability to target by cart value, geography, and even consumption occasion, something traditional retail or SMS-led offers could never deliver with such accuracy. Scalability, however, depends on the category. For FMCG and snacking, coupon-led nudges drive quick wins during seasonal peaks; for personal care or premium staples, product-led trials build stickiness and habit over time. The smartest brands are blending both by using seasonal pushes to grab attention, but pairing them with sustained trial packs or add-ons that create repetition. In that sense, q-commerce is less a short-term lever and more a new distribution path where loyalty can be engineered at the point of purchase.”

Coupons, freebies, and loyalty on autopilot

Prashant Puri, CEO & Co-Founder of AdLift (acquired by Liqvd Asia), emphasised retention. “Last-mile interventions like coupons, freebies, and product trials can be effective in sparking website visits, store footfalls, and even repeat purchases. But their impact is usually short-term unless tied to retention strategies such as loyalty programmes or personalised re-engagement campaigns. When the offers are aligned with real customer needs and the messaging is clear, they become more than a quick push; they create habit and preference.”

“Q-commerce activations are planned in close partnership with platforms like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto, often involving coordination across inventory, logistics, and digital media. Coupon-led activations tend to be seasonal: they help clear stock, drive a festive spike, and get consumers to trial. Product-led activations, limited-edition packs, exclusive SKUs, or bundled experiences are more sustainable. They support long-term brand building by creating loyalty and exclusivity. The most successful brands balance both approaches depending on the occasion and audience,” he added.

Hybrid campaigns that sell today and stick tomorrow

Measuring effectiveness required a dual mindset. “It plays a dual role; they work like performance campaigns with measurable uplift, but they also create memory structures, much like brand campaigns do. A free sample, a trial pack, or a surprise add-on turns delivery into discovery. That is why I see them more as a hybrid lever, one that delivers today’s sale while seeding tomorrow’s loyalty,” Sunitha explained.

Prashant reinforced this perspective. “They can serve both roles. For some brands, the primary lens is performance: tracking coupon redemptions, uplift in repeat purchase, or incremental sales. For others, the lens is the brand: trials that change perception or activations that embed the brand in daily convenience. The key is to define success upfront and measure accordingly. Often the smartest brands run hybrid frameworks that evaluate both the short-term performance spike and the long-term brand lift.”

Standing out in a crowded q-commerce world

“One would be to be creative with communication and creative ideas; the second is to be clever and clear about the targeting and always have tracking mechanics in place, like website visits, coupons, QRs or other integrations, which are measurable actions from the consumer. Then closely study cart lift, trial-to-repeat conversion, and share of reorder. The experience must feel personal for the consumer, enough to make it go from being a one-time delight to a habit purchase,” Sunitha noted. Prashant added that premium app placements and data-driven personalisation also played a key role in cutting through the clutter.

Turning 10-minute deliveries into mini brand moments

“What started as a 10-minute delivery promise has become a 10-second storytelling opportunity, transforming the doorstep into the new battleground for brand engagement. The delivery time itself is now part of the story. When a brand uses that 10-minute promise not simply as a logistics metric but as a chance to surprise, like slipping a mystery mithai into a Diwali box with no hint until you open it, that speed becomes magic, not just utility. That’s exactly what Zepto is currently doing in its Mithai Wars 2025 campaign with Haldiram’s. They are turning routine orders into a cultural moment. It's a clever gimmick that’s not just gifting a box of sweets but sparking participation, nudging users to pick sides, share opinions, and spread the campaign organically across feeds,” Deepmala, Founder and CEO of The Visual House, observed.

“These ‘micro-experiences’ were designed to convert anticipation into intimacy. These marketing stunts, in turn, are making the delivery time a really powerful medium to build consumer loyalty. Those ten minutes between ‘order placed’ and ‘order received’ are now prime real estate for attention. A chance for brands to turn anticipation into intimacy. Every sample, every note, every unexpected gesture was a micro-experience, designed not just to sell but to connect. And brands are clearly seeing the value in this shift. In the last year alone, ad spends on q-commerce platforms grew as much as 8–10x, now accounting for up to 40% of some brands’ total digital budgets. In several categories, q-commerce was actually growing faster than Amazon, Flipkart, or Meta, and despite ad rates rising by nearly 50%, brands continued to invest aggressively. So strategically, I saw q-commerce shifting from ‘seasonal stunt’ to long-term brand tool. It complemented TV, print, and digital as it bridged awareness and action in real time. The brands that leaned fully into surprise, relevance, and emotional cues and not just speed ultimately won not only attention but also affection. This could also be seen as a prime example of where, even in the fastest forms of commerce, there was still room for something deeply human.”

The secret power of freebies in q-commerce

“Last-mile tactics such as freebies, samples, and coupons have proven to be highly effective in driving both engagement and conversions. Around 97% of consumers try the free samples they receive, with 14–33% eventually converting into paying customers. Real-world campaigns have demonstrated strong results, such as a pet food brand experiencing a 16% increase in cat food buyers and a 20% rise in dog food buyers after distributing samples through Blinkit and BigBasket. These activations encouraged repeat orders, coupon redemptions, and even offline purchases, effectively guiding consumers further down the funnel. They were also cost-efficient, with targeted samples costing as little as ₹3–5 each. In essence, last-mile offers delivered measurable engagement and served as powerful trial drivers, creating tangible, high-intent brand touchpoints at the moment of need,” Vaishal Dalal, Co-founder of Excellent Publicity, highlighted.

“What began as a tactical, seasonal experiment for brands had now evolved into a strategic, year-round approach. Brands collaborated with platforms like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart, leveraging shopper data to match offers with relevant consumers, such as sending skincare samples to beauty shoppers. The model was scalable, with these platforms delivering millions of orders daily, enabling brands to distribute lakhs of samples efficiently. Q-commerce has become an integral part of launch strategies, market expansion efforts, and loyalty programmes. While there were still seasonal spikes during festivals, many brands increasingly viewed it as a long-term, always-on trial and conversion tool rather than just a festive marketing push,” he added.

“As more brands entered the Q-commerce space, maintaining visibility amidst clutter required relevance and exclusivity. Partnering with platforms to secure category exclusivity or ensuring only one sample per order helped maintain standout visibility. Creative elements like branded packaging, QR codes, or premium offers such as Rs 500 vouchers or limited-edition products enhanced engagement. The most effective way to stand out was through relevance, offering customers something they genuinely cared about. Success was measured through metrics such as coupon or sample redemption rates, repeat or cross-sell uptake, sales uplift, new customer acquisition, retention over one to six months, cost per conversion, ROI, and qualitative feedback from customer reviews or social media buzz.”