One of the oddities of Internet capitalism is that it deems as fit the so-called competition between whales and minnows. Corporate giants such as Google have been lionised for elbowing out the street-corner painter of signs and hogging the advertising budget of the local barber. Amazon has run thousands of mom-and-pop stores out of business across America.
And today in India, we witness venture capital firms lavishing billions on quick commerce companies as they eat up the business of neighbourhood kirana shops and vegetable vendors. In their recent business results, several quick commerce companies reported revenue growth above 35 per cent across operations at a time when consumption in India has been flagging and large FMCG companies are happy with 3-4 percent. Obviously, consumers are migrating from brick and mortar to convenience shopping.
With even big retail stores like D Mart acknowledging that quick commerce is eating their lunch, what chance does the kirana shop have? Nearly 200,000 kirana stores have closed down in the past year due to the aggressive expansion of quick commerce platforms, a new report says. These platforms offer ultra-fast delivery along with deep discounts and financing options that traditional stores cannot match. As a result, quick commerce is reported to have taken away $1.
28 billion in sales, amounting to 25-30 per cent of the business, from kirana stores in 2024. Nearly 46% of quick commerce buyers have reduced their purchases from kirana shop.