Beyond Instant Delivery: Industry Challenges, Market Gaps, and the Future of Quick Commerce

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-766-3_20How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Quick Commerce; consumer demands; digitalization; convenience expectations; instant delivery; long-term viability; growth and sustainability; consumer behaviour; economic feasibility; environmental sustainability; impulse purchases; digital literacy; consumer purchasing habits; rural market; worker welfare; operational effectiveness

Abstract

Quick Commerce has become a game-changing wave for the Indian retail sector, propelled by shifting consumer demands, digitalization, and rising speed and convenience expectations. But under the glow of instant delivery, the industry has some serious issues that compromise its long-term viability. Three problems vital to the growth and sustainability of Quick Commerce are discussed in this study: sustainability, rural market penetration, and changing consumer behaviour. By a secondary research approach, the paper analyses these key issues based on industry reports, market trends, and literature available. The research scrutinizes Quick Commerce sustainability through economic feasibility, environmental sustainability, and social concerns such as worker welfare and profitability issues. Second, it delves into rural markets’ potential with emphasis on infrastructure constraints, digital literacy issues, and trust issues that impede QC’s expansion beyond cities. Lastly, the paper examines consumer behaviour and how it analyses the movement towards instant gratification, impulse purchases, and how technology shapes consumer purchasing habits. Results show that although QC has great growth potential, its sustainability issues, rural market entry barriers, and consumer preference adaptation are key to long-term success. The study offers strategic recommendations for how industry players can fill market gaps, improve operational effectiveness, and stimulate innovation to make Quick Commerce continue evolving in India.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Anisha Naik
AU  - Diya Gupta
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/06/24
TI  - Beyond Instant Delivery: Industry Challenges, Market Gaps, and the Future of Quick Commerce
BT  - Proceedings of the IBA IEA Conference on Economics and Public Policy (Ecofluence 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 402
EP  - 437
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-766-3_20
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-766-3_20
ID  - Naik2025
ER  -