Logistics provider says QuickCommerce deliveries increase 500% in a year

Shadowfax placed 6 lakh instant commerce orders daily in January 2022, compared to 1 lakh orders a day in January 2021.

Shadowfax works with online marketplaces and e-commerce sites such as Flipkart Quick, BigBasket, Zepto and Apollo to serve customers across categories including food delivery, grocery delivery, quick commerce and multi-city e-commerce fulfillment . It handles 1 million orders daily.

Quick-commerce has become the talk of the town in India’s e-commerce ecosystem, promising quick delivery of groceries and other items of daily use. Companies typically set up dark-stores or partner with local grocery stores to deliver service orders in less than 15 minutes. Dark stores are physical warehouses that only fulfill online orders. The sector has seen the entry of new firms and has been increasingly supplied by existing players such as Zepto, Blinkit (formerly known as Grofers) as well as Swiggy Instamart.

This segment has also attracted investor interest.

In December, instant grocery delivery start-up Zepto raised $100 million in funding to take its valuation to $570 million. Zepto was launched in 2021.

Swiggy said in December that it would invest $700 million in Instamart, its express grocery delivery service, to grow non-food delivery categories. Swiggy then said that it plans to expand its network of dark stores to deliver across locations in 15 minutes. Swiggy also partners with store owners to set up dedicated dark stores within a city for their Instamart business.

Hyperlocal delivery through Shadowfax reported a double the 100% jump on a massive basis. In the same period, such deliveries increased from 20 lakh orders per day to 40 lakh. Shadowfax said its e-commerce deliveries grew 44%, from 80 lakh daily orders in January 2021 to 1.15 crore orders a day in January 2022.

When cases rise and local restrictions surface, the demand for online delivery generally sees a rise.

“Unlike the first and second waves, the third wave is likely to have a greater impact on the overall supply chain. Due to the safety and convenience, customers continue to make more purchases through online channels, thereby creating more demand for the distribution sector. The internally collected data indicates that the grocery and pharma categories witnessed a 50% increase in delivery volumes as compared to the previous month,” the company said in a statement.