Amazon Now taps More Retail stores to expand rapid delivery in smaller Indian cities
Amazon Now is pursuing an asset-light expansion in tier-2 and tier-3 markets, using More Retail outlets as omnichannel fulfilment points rather than building a dense network of dark stores.
What happened
Amazon Now will expand rapid delivery in India’s tier-2 and tier-3 markets through More Retail stores, using existing outlets as omnichannel fulfilment points
Why this matters
The partnership highlights the strategic value of acquiring or partnering with regional retail networks that can be converted into omnichannel fulfilment infrastructure.
What to watch
- Number of cities and More Retail stores added, especially beyond the initial tier-2 footprint.
- Stated delivery-time promise, delivery fee structure and minimum-order thresholds.
- Assortment breadth and evidence of dedicated in-store picking or micro-fulfilment space.
- Amazon hiring for last-mile, store operations and inventory-integration roles in smaller cities.
- Response announcements from Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket or regional grocers.
- More Retail store-level sales growth, stock-out rates and reports of fulfilment-related operational strain.
- Prioritize More Retail stores in dense tier-2 catchments with high grocery basket demand and nearby delivery labor.
- Integrate store inventory visibility, picker workflows and substitution rules into Amazon's local-commerce stack.
- Use Prime-linked delivery offers and grocery discounts to seed repeat behavior and consolidate household spend.
- Test a tiered promise model: sub-30-minute delivery near selected stores, 45-90 minutes for wider catchments.
- Expand the store-fulfilment template to additional regional supermarket and pharmacy partners if unit economics validate.