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 crossed1,000 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, tomore than 300 citiesacross India. The e-commerce giant plans to support the rollout through a network of over1,000 micro fulfilment centresand more than100 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 investmentto 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 expan
