2022 Year in Review | Quick commerce returns to reality

Swiggy created a $700-million war chest to take on rivals like Zepto, Blinkit, Ola Dash and Dunzo. BigBasket, the biggest grocery player, which was known for next-day delivery, started a new business called BB Now to compete with these firms. Disruption was in the air.

But as the year progressed, these companies slowly returned to reality as investors turned bearish amid rising inflation, followed by interest rate hikes by central banks around the world. Consolidation followed as Ola
shut down Ola Dash, and Blinki
t was acquired
by Zomato.

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Here’s a roundup of our biggest stories on quick commerce this year.

In February, we broke the news that Zepto and Swiggy Instamar
t were working on creating a portfolio of private-label products across categories to improve their margins while offering customers lower prices.

Discover the stories of your interest

Since then, Swiggy has started multiple brands across categories, such as Home Truths for home products like garbage bags, kitchen towels and air fresheners, and Swype for dishwashers and Clean Champ for floor cleaners. It also launched a range of staples and grains called Supreme Harvest.

The hype around quick commerce attracted the attention of big players, including Flipkart and Ola, but both companies exited the business within a year.

The
exit of Ola Dash was seen as a sign of consolidation in the industry, along with the acquisition of Blinkit by Zomato, a deal
which was first reported by ET two years ago.

Meanwhile, the 10-minute delivery promise started becoming a problem for many companies. The challenges faced by gig workers and the risks associated with 10-minute delivery got attention in 2022 and were even discussed in Parliament.

As the economy opened up after Covid, gig workers started finding other ways to earn money, leading to a
shortage of delivery workers.

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Protests from drivers, a common affair in the ride-hailing business, started to show up in food and grocery delivery businesses as well, as tech companies cut incentives amid a tightening funding environment.

Amid rising protests, poor optics, a tight funding environment, and the need for better unit economics, quick commerce companies slowly started relaxing their 10-minute promise and clubbing multiple orders to save costs.

ETtech Long Read:
Why nobody is talking about 10-minute deliveries anymore

Similarly, Dunzo Daily, which promises 20-minute delivery, started incentivising 60-minute delivery to save costs and change its priorities. Here’s
our deep dive on the changes inside Dunzo.

ETtech

Companies looked for various ways to save costs in a business that some experts claim will never make money. After being bought by Zomato, Blinkit
started integrating its operations with Zomato’s restaurant supplies business Hyperpure.

Hyperpure’s ability to aggregate demand for both Blinkit and many restaurants will give it more bargaining power with suppliers, and its integrated logistics will also help save on backend costs with Blinkit. Dunzo can also integrate backwards as retail behemoth Reliance Retail is a majority investor in the Bengaluru-based company.

As consumers began ordering more frequently through quick commerce platforms, companies tried to save costs by
nudging them to buy all their requirements together. Companies like Swiggy even contemplated deploying mini-trucks for last-mile delivery.

(Graphics & illustrations by Rahul Awasthi)