Walmart-backed Flipkart is witnessing exceptional growth in its quick-commerce business Minutes, with small towns emerging as the primary driver of expansion. According to The Times of India, cities such as Siliguri, Ambala, Barabanki, Bhagalpur and Durgapur are seeing huge consumer adoption, with the overall customer base growing nearly 25 times year-on-year across such regions. The broader Minutes business has expanded four times year-on-year since its launch two years back, demonstrating the platform's rapid scaling beyond major metros. Flipkart is piloting a standalone app for its quick-commerce business, Flipkart Minutes, with a wider rollout expected ahead of its annual festive sales in October. The service is now present in more than 150 cities, with customers in Tier-2 cities and beyond growing nearly 25-fold from a year earlier.
According to The Times of India, Moneycontrol, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research, and Bernstein, Flipkart is adding users faster than Amazon in India, widening its lead in online retail even as quick-commerce platforms rapidly expand. Flipkart and Myntra together accounted for 35% of India's monthly active user (MAU) share year-to-date, making them the country's largest e-commerce platform by user base, according to Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research, citing SensorTower data. The combined lead over Amazon, Flipkart's closest horizontal e-commerce rival, has nearly doubled over the past four years, increasing from about 9 percentage points in 2022 to 17 percentage points currently. Flipkart's MAU base grew 15% year-on-year in July 2026, accelerating sharply from 3% growth in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year, while Amazon's MAU base remained in negative territory, contracting between 1% and 6% year-on-year across the months tracked by research firms. The gap is also evident in transaction value, with Flipkart maintaining an approximately 10-percentage-point lead over Amazon in gross merchandise value (GMV) every year since 2019, according to Goldman Sachs, citing Euromonitor data.
The shift in India's online retail market comes as quick commerce expands beyond its original grocery and convenience focus, while value-commerce platforms gain users in smaller cities and towns. Flipkart is participating in this shift through Flipkart Minutes, its quick-commerce business launched in August 2024. According to TechCrunch, PTI, Mint, and Business Standard, Minutes has quadrupled its business over the past year, now handling between 1.1 million and 1.2 million orders a day, up from about 390,000-400,000 in November. That puts Flipkart Minutes within range of Swiggy Instamart, which handles about 1.4 million orders a day, while Blinkit and Zepto remain the two largest quick-commerce players by order volume. Minutes is present in more than 150 cities, with customers in Tier-2 cities and beyond growing nearly 25-fold from a year earlier. The service will have over 1,200 micro-fulfilment centres in September and plans to reach 1,500 by the end of the year, with Kunal Gupta, senior vice-president and head of Flipkart Minutes, stating that "By year end, we look forward to about 1,500 micro-fulfillment centres. Our larger goal is to reach the whole of Bharat." Minutes had 627 dark stores across the country's top 10 quick-commerce cities in August, ahead of Instamart's 615, according to CLSA, though Blinkit remained the leader with 969 stores. Minutes' revenue is growing fourfold from a year earlier, with around 60% of customers returning to shop on the platform.
According to Business Standard, Gen Z has emerged as the fastest-growing customer cohort on Flipkart Minutes, with the customer base growing nearly five times year-on-year in the past 12 months. Gen Z drives over 45% of orders across categories such as beauty, electronics, gaming, wearables, fragrance, health and nutrition, and grooming, while accounting for one in three gourmet orders on the platform. The data points to a generation using quick commerce for a much wider range of products, from everyday essentials to premium and aspirational categories. Gourmet and specialty grocery, launched within the past year, has grown eight times, with demand for cold-pressed oils, imported cheeses, international avocado varieties and Korean ready-to-eat meals. Men's grooming has grown nearly sixfold year-on-year, while pet food has grown five times, reflecting the expanding range of products customers are choosing to buy through quick commerce. The platform's biggest single order to date was worth ₹6 lakh and included five smartphones, illustrating how quickly quick commerce is expanding beyond everyday essentials. Kunal Gupta, senior vice-president and head of Flipkart Minutes, noted that "demand on the platform has grown beyond everyday essentials with consumers also shopping for gourmet and premium products." Consumers are adding products such as Korean noodles, sauces and ready-to-eat meals, alongside premium skincare and personal care categories even in smaller cities.
The competitive landscape is intensifying with emerging players challenging traditional models. Rapido's food-delivery service Ownly went live across Bengaluru early this year, operating on a zero-commission model where delivery is managed by a network of logistics partners that earn by providing logistics services. The Ownly platform had close to 20,000 restaurants and continued to scale rapidly, recently onboarded as an industry partner for the fifth edition of the NRAI Food Delivery Summit 2026. Meanwhile, Swiggy is pursuing the price-sensitive segment through Toing, a standalone food-delivery app that has gained traction since its launch, with brokerage CLSA recently estimating Toing's weekly active users at about 33 million, close to Zomato's roughly 35 million. Flipkart's lower commission benchmark of 10% to 11% poses a real threat to future commission take-rates, with the ultimate battleground being breaking customer stickiness driven by Zomato Gold or Swiggy One subscriptions. Kunal Gupta, senior vice-president and head of Flipkart Minutes, stated that "There is absolutely no scope for eight, nine players… We would want to be the default app of India for its shopping and grocery needs."
