India’s vertical-commerce startups tap quick commerce to scale specialised retail

Specialists in fashion, beauty, pharmacy and home services are gaining traction through curated assortments and category expertise, while increasingly using quick-commerce platforms for fulfilment and customer acquisition rather than building delivery fleets.

— Source publishedThu, 27 Aug, 2026, 10:03 IST·First seen Thu, 27 Aug, 2026, 10:42 IST·Source ET Brand Equity

What happened

Vertical commerce in India · Indian vertical-commerce platforms are gaining momentum by offering category-specific curation, trust and tailored fulfilment.

Key facts

  • Quick commerce accounted for more than two-thirds of India's online grocery orders in 2024
  • Non-grocery categories accounted for 23% of quick-commerce GMV in FY25
  • Blinkit delivered Urban Company's Native water purifiers within 30 minutes
  • Quick-commerce delivery benchmark of 10 minutes

Why this matters

Retail, marketplace and logistics buyers should target partnerships or acquisitions that combine vertical-category authority with access to rapid-delivery demand and fulfilment networks.

What to watch

  • Quick-commerce platforms adding dedicated beauty, pharmacy, fashion or home-services storefronts and category-specific seller programs.
  • Changes in commission rates, ad-spend requirements, data-sharing policies or private-label placement on major Indian quick-commerce apps.
  • Expansion of dark-store assortments toward regulated medicines, cosmetics, apparel basics and home-service consumables.
  • Evidence that non-grocery orders achieve repeat rates and basket sizes sufficient to offset rapid-delivery costs.
  • Rising customer complaints or regulatory scrutiny around prescription verification, counterfeit goods, product storage and delivery quality.
  • Vertical brands reducing owned logistics capacity, closing city warehouses, or reporting growing marketplace-led sales concentration.
  • Build a channel strategy separating rapid-delivery SKUs from premium, consultation-led and high-return products best retained on direct channels.
  • Create quick-commerce-specific assortments: replenishment packs, trial sizes, bundles and high-velocity hero SKUs with limited return risk.
  • Negotiate access to customer insights, search placement, service-level commitments and promotional terms before concentrating volume on one platform.
  • Use marketplace demand data to position micro-inventory near high-repeat customer clusters instead of funding a proprietary delivery fleet.
  • Invest in loyalty, subscriptions, expert content and post-purchase service to preserve direct customer relationships despite third-party fulfilment.
  • Model contribution margins after commissions, discounts, shrinkage, returns and inventory duplication by city and category.

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