Myntra, India's largest fashion e-commerce platform, is piloting a four-hour delivery service in four Indian cities, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch, slashing the standard two-to-three day delivery window as a surge in quick commerce changes consumer behavior.
The Flipkart Group Inc. company is testing the expedited delivery service in cities including Bangalore and New Delhi, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn't public. The company plans to expand four-hour delivery to more Indian cities by the end of the year.
The move into faster delivery comes amid the rise of quick commerce in India, where a group of companies are gaining market share in categories like groceries and office supplies that can be delivered in 10 to 15 minutes. Some of these companies are also exploring product returns and have indicated plans to expand in the fashion category, where returns are high.
Myntra's move also reflects Flipkart's agility in the Indian e-commerce race: Seeing the rapid adoption of quick commerce in India, the Walmart-owned company recently responded by entering the fast-delivery race, a battle that Flipkart's biggest rival in India, Amazon, has so far avoided.
Myntra, which traditionally delivered products to consumers within two to three days, has been working over the past two years to improve delivery times, including its Express service, which delivers products to consumers within 24 to 48 hours in some Indian cities.
An internal evaluation by Myntra found that consumers are significantly more likely to complete a purchase when delivery times are faster, one of the sources said.
Myntra did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fashion has traditionally proven a tough segment for Indian e-commerce companies due to the sheer volume of products and high customer rejection rates. Myntra reported annual transaction users reaching about 40 million last year, according to information provided to the Economic Times.
During the trial period of its quick commerce service, Myntra is narrowing down the selection of products it offers to customers.
Quick-commerce startups are making deeper inroads in India, luring customers with convenience: Zomato-owned BlinkIt, Tata-owned BigBasket's BBNow, StepStone-backed Zepto and Swiggy's Instamart operate with more than $6 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) annually, up from about $2.5 billion last year, according to TechCrunch estimates.
The rise of quick commerce has many analysts and investors speculating that it could have a major impact on the entire e-commerce industry in India, which generated around $50 billion in sales last year, according to industry estimates.
Quick commerce companies are “rapidly taking share from the three biggest incumbents: offline or general trade, modern trade retailers, and other e-commerce players,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note this month.
TechCrunch reported last month that Zepto expects to grow 150% over the next 12 months.