E-commerce firms race to speed up deliveries ahead of India's festive sales
India's online retailers are expanding ultra-fast delivery networks into Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities as the festive shopping season approaches.
Analysts expect online festive sales in India to rise roughly 29% to ₹1,55,000 crore, with quick-commerce accounting for an estimated 16% of that volume. Major players—including Amazon Now, Flipkart Minutes, Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart—are extending their ultra-fast delivery footprints into smaller markets, bringing micro-fulfilment centres to over 150 cities and dark stores to 477 locations nationwide. Blinkit holds the largest share of dark stores in the top ten cities, while Flipkart Minutes now leads in both store count and pincode coverage there.
The sector’s growth is driven by a surge in grocery orders, projected to climb 41%, and strong demand from Gen Z shoppers. Seasonal hiring is also rising, with Amazon creating more than 160,000 temporary roles and Flipkart adding over 250,000 direct and indirect jobs, many in last-mile logistics.
