Salaries for quick commerce delivery execs higher than food delivery: report

Delivery executives earn higher incomes through quick commerce compared to food delivery, said a new report, reflecting the rapid growth of the quick commerce sector which is not only transforming consumer buying behaviour but also proving to be beneficial for gig workers.

According to a Morgan Stanley report, quick commerce delivery partners earn a net income of Rs 21,402, as against Rs 18,595 for their food delivery counterparts.

Also, a quick commerce delivery partner completes 533 orders per month, which is 29.7% more than the 411 orders for food delivery, it said.

“In terms of cost structure, quick commerce’s costs are better than food delivery due to its lower last mile cost. This is partially offset by other costs pertaining to mid mile, partner commission for running franchisee stores, and lease costs for renting out warehouses and dark stores,” the report published on November 13 said.

According to Zomato’s latest shareholder letter, its quick commerce arm Blinkit had 127,000 monthly active delivery partners on average in the previous quarter.

The average delivery time for a quick commerce order is 10-15 minutes, compared to 30-40 minutes for food delivery as the average distance per order is half of food delivery. This faster turnaround helps quick commerce delivery partners to do more deliveries per hour.

In quick commerce, the delivery distance per order ranges from 2 to 3 kilometres, compared to 5 to 7 kilometres for food delivery. The shorter distance also leads to lower fuel costs.

“Last mile delivery architecture is simpler for quick commerce (one to many) than for food delivery (many to many), which makes it possible for a higher number of deliveries per hour for quick commerce,” it said.

The quick commerce market in India is expected to be worth $42-55 billion by 2030, as per the report. The sector is seeing increased competition, with players like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto facing new entrants such as Flipkart, Tata Group and Amazon, all vying for a stake in the market. The rivalry among the top three has escalated as they aggressively expand their dark store networks.

Blinkit opened 152 new dark stores in the second quarter, bringing its total to 791 as of September 30. Rival Swiggy Instamart had around 557 dark stores as of June 30 and plans to take it to 741, while Zepto has surpassed the 500-store mark and is on track to hit 700 by March 2025.

The rapid expansion of quick commerce has also raised concerns about its impact on kirana stores, although the platforms have openly denied any impact. ET had earlier reported that more than $1 billion of kirana sales are expected to move to quick commerce in 2024, according to ecommerce consultancy Datum Intelligence.