Amazon Now expansion: 300 cities shakes quick commerce 2026

Why quick commerce is back in focus

India’s 10-minute delivery market has largely been built by Eternal Ltd.’s Blinkit and Swiggy Ltd.’s Instamart. But the segment is moving into a new phase as global e-commerce players sharpen their rapid-delivery strategies. Amazon.com Inc. is expanding Amazon Now, while Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart is ramping up Minutes. The immediate concern for investors is not that Amazon will quickly displace incumbents. The bigger worry is that a deep-pocketed entrant can make the market more competitive and more expensive to win.

The market reaction has been visible in share prices and broader sentiment. Eternal has slipped 28% from its October all-time high as of Thursday’s close, while Swiggy has fallen about 47% from its September peak. Together, that decline has been described as a selloff of more than $15 billion, as investors reassess how fast growth can convert into profits under heavier competition.

Stocks slide as Amazon signals a faster rollout

Amazon India’s announcement on June 24 that it plans to build the country’s largest “delivery in minutes” network brought quick commerce stocks into focus. In early trade on June 25, Swiggy shares slipped nearly 2% to Rs 240.15 on the NSE, while Eternal shares fell 1.5% to Rs 252.5. Other reports around the same announcement window also described declines of up to 2% for the two counters on June 24.

A separate market update said shares of Eternal and Swiggy declined up to 3% after Amazon announced a larger push, with Eternal hitting an intraday low of Rs 246.01 (down 3.52%) and Swiggy falling to Rs 279.2 (down 2.45%). These moves reflected investor concern that competitive intensity could rise quickly if Amazon’s rollout accelerates beyond major metros.

What Amazon said about Amazon Now

Amazon chief Andy Jassy, on his first visit to India since becoming CEO in July 2021, said the company is stepping up its quick commerce push. He described the offering as Amazon India’s “fastest growing e-commerce business unit” and said orders have doubled every quarter since launch.

Amazon was late to instant delivery in India. The company ran a pilot in December 2024, and Amazon Now started operations in Q1 2025. By then, Blinkit, Instamart, and IPO-bound Zepto had already built scale and benefited from first-mover advantage as consumer adoption widened.

Scale ambitions: 300 cities and a larger fulfilment network

Amazon plans to take Amazon Now to more than 300 cities, from over 15 cities currently. Jassy also said Amazon aims to build the largest delivery-in-minutes network. For context, the same reporting noted that Blinkit delivers in more than 200 cities, Instamart operates in over 130 cities, and Zepto is present across 66 locations.

To support the rollout, Amazon said it will expand its specialised fulfilment infrastructure and build a network of more than 1,000 micro-fulfilment centres. Another report pegged this push to an investment of Rs 2,800 crore. Separately, Amazon has also pumped in a fresh $100 million in India to fuel quick commerce, and is betting on its paid membership programme, Prime, to shift regular marketplace users to Now for daily needs.

The market leaders and what the data shows

Eternal’s Blinkit is described as the market leader. One data point said Blinkit holds nearly half the market with 27.2 million average monthly transacting users and 273.9 million orders at the end of the March quarter. Another data point, based on 2026 data from Datum Intelligence, put Blinkit’s share at 46%.

Zepto was cited as the next player on order volume, with 210 million orders. The wider quick commerce segment was described as an $11 billion market that is heating up further as Zepto prepares a $1 billion IPO to strengthen expansion plans.

Why Amazon’s entry matters: costs, discounts, and margins

The key competitive signal in the reporting is that Amazon can make the quick commerce market more expensive to win. That matters because valuations in this segment depend heavily on expectations of future profitability. If discounting rises, delivery costs increase, and dark store expansion accelerates, the timeline for margin improvement can lengthen.

For Eternal, quick commerce is described as a major part of the growth story, with Blinkit helping investors view the company as more than a food delivery player. The business has scaled fast and has started showing signs of profitability. The risk flagged is slower margin expansion for Blinkit if competitive intensity forces more spending.

For Swiggy, the risk is presented as sharper because Instamart is still loss-making. Even if Instamart benefits from Swiggy’s food delivery ecosystem, a more aggressive market can raise customer retention costs and delay the path to profitability.

What investors are watching now

The reporting highlighted five factors investors should track: city overlap, category expansion, discounting, margin movement, and order frequency. These markers directly reflect whether competition is pushing the sector into a prolonged spending cycle or whether leaders can protect unit economics while continuing to grow.

Amazon’s ambition to reach 300 cities also shifts the battleground deeper into tier-two and tier-three regions. That can widen the addressable market, but it can also intensify expansion spending for everyone, particularly on dark stores, micro-fulfilment, and delivery density.

Conclusion

India’s quick commerce market is entering a higher-stakes competitive phase as Amazon accelerates Amazon Now and Flipkart ramps up Minutes. The recent declines in Eternal and Swiggy shares reflect concerns about discount pressure, rising fulfilment costs, and a slower conversion of growth into profits. Near-term attention is likely to stay on Amazon’s pace of city expansion, the build-out of micro-fulfilment centres, and any visible changes in discounting and margins among incumbents.