Flipkart quick commerce helps lift Walmart sales

Walmart said its India ecommerce unit Flipkart helped lift international sales and profit in the quarter ended April 30 as it expanded quick commerce through Flipkart Minutes.

Walmart International net sales rose 18% year on year to US$35.1 billion and 10.1% in constant currency to US$32.8 billion.

The unit’s ecommerce sales rose 27% and advertising rose 32%, which Walmart said was driven by Flipkart.

Walmart said Flipkart and China operations, along with lower ecommerce losses, helped improve operating income.

Executives said Flipkart Minutes runs more than 800 microfulfillment centers.

The service delivers in under 13 minutes on average in more than 30 Indian cities.

Flipkart launched Minutes in August 2024 and now competes with Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, and Amazon in India.

🔗 Source: The Economic Times

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Flipkart races to narrow the quick commerce gap

Flipkart is ramping up to narrow the gap with Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart. Those rivals already deliver groceries and household goods in minutes across India 1.
Flipkart Minutes plans to add about 100 dark stores each month, taking the network to roughly 1,200. Dark stores are small warehouses built for online orders rather than walk-in shoppers, putting Flipkart near Zepto and Swiggy Instamart in footprint 1.
Blinkit still leads with about 2,100 dark stores, leaving Flipkart with a lot of ground to cover 1.
The market is hard to crack because logistics costs stay high while many orders come in below 300 rupees (US$3.6), which makes profits tough for quick-commerce firms 2.

Fast delivery opens the door to more profitable retail services

Walmart is using a similar approach outside India. In China, it delivered more than 500 million units in the quarter, and about 75% arrived in under one hour 3.
Dense local delivery networks let large retailers serve nearby shoppers fast and bring tested ways of running the business into local markets 3.
These frequent delivery networks can also support services that make more money than basic retail sales 4.
For Walmart, advertising and membership fees account for about one-third of earnings, giving its delivery system a path to more profitable revenue streams 3.