Amazon Now, the quick commerce (QCom) business of Amazon, has now expanded to Mumbai, after Bengaluru and Delhi. The company has set up a network of more than 100 micro-fulfilment centres, or dark stores, across the three cities and plans to add several hundred more by year-end to support its 10-minute delivery service.
Amazon said Now is witnessing strong traction, with daily order volumes in Bengaluru and Delhi growing at ~25% month-on-month (MoM).
Despite the expansion, Amazon’s footprint remains modest compared to incumbents. Blinkit, owned by Eternal, operates 1,544 dark stores, while Swiggy Instamart runs 1,062. However, Amazon has the capital and ambition to scale its presence rapidly.
The entry of Amazon into QCom follows similar moves by Flipkart and Reliance Industries, intensifying competition in a segment currently led by Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto. Analysts believe this highlights both the sector’s growth potential and the increasing threat it poses to modern trade and e-commerce players.
Impact on Eternal, Swiggy
Analysts note that Amazon will need to launch a dedicated quick commerce app and make significant investments in network expansion — including dark stores, motherhubs, and logistics infrastructure — to gain meaningful market share.
Substantial spending on brand building, customer acquisition and retention, and service differentiation will also be necessary to encourage users to switch from incumbent platforms.
“We believe that incumbents are better placed – creating almost an entirely new supply chain for its QCom business will be a challenge for Amazon, given that incumbents have an advantage of being top-of-the-mind recall apps for a large pool of customers. More competition is a feature of the land grab phase, in which adjacent players enter the market which drives market expansion and growth,” said Pranav Kshatriya, Senior Research Analyst at Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd.
While excessive competition will weigh on profitability, he expects consumer stickiness to help incumbents retain customers. Once industry growth slows down, a consolidation phase is expected to follow, which will result in sub-scale players folding operations and driving profitability.
Kshatriya said that Blinkit is executing well in the QCom space, and he retains a ‘Buy’ rating on Eternal shares with a target price of ₹330 apiece.
Analysts at JM Financial echoed this view, noting that Amazon’s expansion will take time to bear fruit, and is unlikely to have any immediate impact on growth ambitions of early adopters such as Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto.
Market Outlook
As per JM Financial estimates, quick commerce penetration in India’s $1 trillion retail market was just 0.9% as of Q1FY26, compared to 6–7% penetration in e-retail.
The brokerage expects exponential growth in QCom driven by a shift in consumer demand from scheduled e-commerce, unorganised retail, and modern trade channels, expansion of categories and product depth, and aggressive dark store rollout by incumbents in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
“Even with a conservative estimate of 2.5% penetration over the next five years, the QCom market could expand to ~$48 billion, growing at ~44% CAGR. This ensures robust gross order value (GOV) growth for early adopters, despite new entrants like Amazon,” JM Financial said.
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