Quick-comm pushes ad revenue for profitability

Q-COMM, A $10 BILLION BUSINESS, HAS SUCCEEDED IN 100 CITIES AND IT IS LIKELY TO GO TO THE NEXT 100. IT IS EXPECTED TO SCALE TO $50-60 BILLION IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS

- Shuchi Bansal

Kash Agrawal, co-founder, Zoff Foods, an online spices and seasoning products brand, is chalking out business plans for the new financial year. He aims to expand Zoff's presence on quick-commerce (q-comm) platforms like Zepto, Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and others, maximise availability in their dark stores and step-up marketing. "We want to improve our Share of Voice on these platforms," Agrawal says, implying that Zoff will up its advertising spends on q-comm sites that deliver goods in 10-30 minutes.

An online-first brand, Zoff gets 60% of its business from traditional e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart, but Agrawal spends more advertising money on q-comm which he says sparked a 400% jump in business. "Today, 60% of our total ad budget is for q-comm which brings 40% of our business," he says.

Essentially, q-comm lists fast-moving products which customers need in a hurry.

Defending higher ad spends on q-comm, Agrawal says customers take speedy decisions on apps like Zepto, Blinkit, so the brand must be visible during their decision making. "On q-comm, you're more inclined to buy the product you see first," he says, justifying investments in bidding for key search words and display ads on these platforms.