Q-commerce firms see big gains in small items

WITH PLANS TO drive up average order values (AOVs) by selling big-ticket items not working out, quick commerce players have reverted to the tried and trusted sale of groceries and consumer staples.

- S SHANTHI

It was never going to be easy, given the costs, inventory constraints and delivery logistics.

In January, Blinkit started 10-minute deliveries of laptops, monitors and printers in the metros. Later, both Blinkit and Zepto were offering the Mac Book Air, iPads, and AirPods, in select cities. But things didn't go quite as expected.

As experts at Deloitte point out, delivery costs in q-commerce are 3-4x higher than in regular e-commerce. This makes the economics of selling laptops or large appliances unsustainable given these items also have a high return rate, of nearly 15%. Stocking a Mac Book in a 500 sq ft micro-warehouse, for instance, is bad economics because one idle unit ties up more capital than an entire aisle of groceries. Frequent stock-outs or limited availability, in most geographies, don't help.