Amazon, Flipkart Expansion Plans Trigger Dark Store Race In Quick Commerce

E-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart are accelerating their quick commerce ambitions through large scale investments in micro fulfillment centres amid intensifying competition with Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket and JioMart.

On Wednesday, Flipkart Minutes announced that it had crossed 1,000 micro fulfilment centres (dark stores) across more than 130 cities and 8,000 pincodes, less than two years after its launch in August 2024. Sources indicate that the company is on track to surpass 1,500 micro fulfilment centres within the next few months.The Walmart-owned company also claimed a 5X increase in order volumes over the past year, led by rapid expansion across tier II and tier III markets.

Meanwhile, Amazon unveiled plans to expand Amazon Now, its quick commerce service, to more than 300 cities across India. The e-commerce giant plans to support the rollout through a network of over 1,000 micro fulfilment centres and more than 100 urban fulfillment centers. Currently, it operates more than 500 centres.

The expansion plan was unveiled during CEO Andy Jassy's visit to India, where he met government officials, industry leaders and company employees. The firm had earlier announced a $300 million investment to strengthen its infrastructure and operations, with a portion of the capital allocated to expand the footprint of its quick commerce vertical.

The latest developments show how India's largest e-commerce companies are increasing their focus on quick commerce, a segment that until recently was led primarily by new age startups.

According to Amazon, Amazon Now has become the fastest growing ecommerce business unit in its India operations, with orders doubling every quarter since launch and serving more than 50 million customers across over 15 cities. The company added that Prime members who use the service shop three times more frequently. Flipkart Minutes, meanwhile, reported a 42X increase in scale across tier II and tier III markets over the past year, adding more than 90 cities to its network. Gen Z accounts for over 40% of its customer base, while demand is expanding beyond groceries into electronics, beauty, wellness and lifestyle products.

Blinkit currently has the widest dedicated quick commerce footprint with a presence in 243 cities, followed by Flipkart Minutes (130+), Swiggy Instamart (129), Zepto (61) and BigBasket (60+). However, Amazon plans to expand Amazon Now to 300 cities, which would give it the largest city footprint among dedicated quick commerce players once the rollout is complete.

The expansion by Amazon and Flipkart comes as dark stores and micro fulfilment centres become critical infrastructure for quick commerce companies. These facilities allow companies to position inventory closer to consumers and enable deliveries within minutes.

Among quick commerce operators, Blinkit currently leads with 2,243 dark stores. Swiggy Instamart and Zepto operate 1,143 and 1,139 dark stores, respectively. Tata-backed BigBasket has expanded its network to over 900 dark stores across the country.

The scale of these expansion plans becomes clearer when compared with the pace of expansion by existing quick commerce players. Blinkit added 942 dark stores during FY26, while Swiggy Instamart and Zepto expanded their networks by 122 and 110 stores, respectively. Against this backdrop, Amazon and Flipkart targeting networks of more than 1,000 micro fulfilment centres each underscores the intensity of competition as the two e-commerce giants challenge the segment's established leaders.

A recent Entrackr report also highlighted that Instamart’s share of orders across the three leading quick commerce platforms fell from 34.3% in FY24 to 20.9% in FY26.

Reliance-owned JioMart is pursuing a different strategy. At Reliance Industries' latest AGM, the company said that its quick commerce network comprises more than 3,100 stores serving over 1,200 cities and 5,100 PIN codes. Unlike rivals that primarily rely on dedicated dark stores, JioMart leverages Reliance Retail's existing store network to fulfil quick commerce orders and expand coverage.

The competition has intensified as quick commerce expands beyond groceries into electronics, personal care, beauty, home products and other categories. Companies are increasingly focusing on fulfillment density and geographic reach to improve delivery speeds and customer retention.

With seven ‘serious’ players in the market, no one can argue that the market is short on competition. And no one will contest that seven players is at least one, or perhaps more, too many, even in a growing market that cannot deliver the kind of growth and expansion needed to sustain seven such players. In the current shootout, we continue to see the Tata-backed BigBasket as the player most vulnerable to disruption. Thanks to the broader challenges being faced by the group, with management confronting multiple issues, BigBasket is the one to watch in terms of a likely loss of market share or, possibly, interest.