Nykaa and Licious are Testing Quick Delivery Options in Response to Rising Customer Demand

Nitin Konde, Varun Bhardwaj

Oct 11, 2024 — 3 min read

Nykaa and Licious Test Quick Delivery

In Borivali, Mumbai, Nykaa has started a test programme for 10-minute delivery. According to a media source report, this move is a reflection of the rapid commerce sector's growing influence across several product categories, which is pressuring speciality merchants to accelerate their delivery services.

A direct-to-consumer meat firm called Licious is experimenting with 15-minute deliveries for ready-to-eat meals in a few Gurgaon locations. However, they guarantee 30-minute deliveries normally. In a similar vein, Bengaluru and New Delhi are seeing the trial run of a four-hour delivery service by the fashion platform Myntra. Nykaa's foray into the world of fast commerce coincides with the growing popularity of beauty products on sites such as Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, and BigBasket's BB Now. Nykaa intends to extend its 10-minute delivery service to further parts of Mumbai and might launch a new brand name for this project.

According to a Quick Commerce executive cited in the study, quick delivery formats are popular for low-cost beauty items like kajal and skincare products. Similar trends are also being seen in the fashion and home décor categories.

Prompt Delivery Programmes

Bengaluru-based Licious has been delivering orders in major marketplaces in as little as 1 to 2 hours, frequently ahead of schedule. Based on order density, the company is already investigating even speedier deliveries in Gurgaon.

Large horizontal e-commerce companies are also growing their rapid commerce services in the interim. Amazon is developing its own Q-commerce service, while Flipkart has debuted its 10-minute delivery service, Minutes, in Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, and Mumbai. Bolt, a 10-minute meal delivery service that Swiggy recently launched, is anticipated to be reintroduced by Zomato for a limited number of items in partnership with cafes and quick-service restaurants.

Similarly, even logistics firms like Xpressbees, Delhivery, Shadowfax, and Ecom Express are getting into the rapid commerce space.

Nykaa Stepping Up its Rapid E-Commerce Efforts

About 5% of Nykaa's total SKUs will be eligible for quick commerce, with an emphasis on items that customers commonly request to be delivered quickly. According to industry experts, a number of businesses are moving towards same-day delivery in large metro areas, dependent upon their category, in response to consumers' increasing demands for expedited service.

In four major cities, Nykaa already offers same-day delivery for orders placed before noon and next-day delivery for orders placed after that. In these metro areas, between 10% and 15% of orders are delivered the same day, with the other orders arriving the following day.

Nykaa is seeing the fastest increase in its luxury product portfolio, according to JP Morgan research. Because of its concentration on beauty products and its stronghold in Tier-II cities, Nykaa does not anticipate a major impact from the expansion of rapid commerce.

The CEO of Mamaearth, Varun Alagh, stated in August that the fastest-growing sector of the company's online sales channel was rapid commerce, which accounted for over 10% of its online income, and the majority of orders came from the top 10 cities.