Quick Take — To improve rider safety, the Indian government has asked ‘quick commerce’ platforms to drop their promise to satisfy customers in ten minutes

This has not slowed down the economic boom of these services for impatient customers, observes Isabelle Chaperon, columnist for the economics section of ‘Le Monde’: “In India, ‘fast trade’ is moving too fast.”

Fast commerce is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Indian gig economy. In November 2024, Datum Intelligence estimated that this market, negligible in 2020, would reach USD 6 billion (EUR 5.1 billion) in 2024 and USD 40 billion by 2030. Although local shops, called kitana, still account for 92% of food purchases, they are suffering from this competition. Meanwhile, the major online platforms, engaged in fierce competition, remain unprofitable, but their value is growing strongly. The share price of Eternal, owner of market leader Blinkit, has increased fivefold since 2023.

Quick commerce appeals for various reasons: poorly organised distribution and chaotic traffic. It is also favoured by the abundance of young workers, paid a few rupees. According to projections by the government think tank NITI Aayog for 2022, the approximately 7.7 million people doing ‘casual jobs’ for internet platforms in India, from taxi drivers to deliverymen, are expected to reach 30 million by 2030

Read more on the subject here.

Quick Take — Amazon also launches in the UK Amazon Now, the new ultra-rapid delivery service that promises to deliver thousands of groceries and household goods in around 30 minutes or less

The project kicks off in a test phase in some postcodes in Southwark, London, with an extension to other areas planned in the coming months.

Amazon Now is available seven days a week via app and website and offers an assortment that covers around 35 categories, including fresh food, beverages, protein snacks, low and no-alcohol products, vitamins and supplements, as well as major personal, household and pet care items. From a strategic point of view, the initiative strengthens Amazon’s positioning in the quick commerce segment, where speed of delivery is a key differentiating factor, particularly in high-density urban settings.

Our relationship with FOOD over the last 100 YEARS has changed a great deal: how?

How has our relationship with food changed over the last hundred years? In the first episode of the docuseries “What We Eat”, produced in collaboration with @foodunfolded with the support of EIT Food and co-funded by the European Union, we trace the evolution of our relationship with food, which has been turned on its head in just one century

Quick Take — Glovo and Delivery Hero fined for forming a commercial cartel

The European Commission for the first time sanctions a cartel of delivery platforms for not competing on hiring talent.

Glovo and its parent company Delivery Hero, two leading names in home delivery services, have been fined a total of €359 million (€223.2 million for Delivery Hero and €105.7 million for Glovo) for participating in a cartel active for four years within the European Economic Area, a trade agreement to restrict competition.

Quick Take — Prosus (Glovo) also conquers JustEat. Integrations in view in delivery

This move marks a consolidation phase for the delivery market, as Prosus (a global investor focused on technology) is the main shareholder of Delivery Hero. And Delivery Hero (47,000 employees, present in 70 countries) encompasses a huge portfolio of brands, such as PedidosYa (South America), Glovo and Foodora (Europe), Talabat and Hunger Station (Middle East/North Africa) up to Foodpanda in Asia, just to mention the main ones… In the future, a merger between Glovo and JustEat could be considered… The first half of fiscal 2024, for Delivery Hero, was still a bloodbath: over 700 million net loss on over 5 billion in revenue. Prosus is still losing a lot of money in India with its subsidiary Swiggy. In the long run and by focusing on concentration, delivery could really make money as it does now in the US with DoorDash.

Read: Delivery: between platform losses and worker exploitation