A P R O D U C T B Y
C A T E G O R Y S T U D Y · Q U I C K C O M M E R C E · I N D I A
Shoppers have not committed to this category,
and speed is not what would change that
1,855 shoppers profiled across 291 cities and 33 states, in Hindi and in English, on when they reach for a quick-delivery
grocery app, what makes them leave it and what the category means to them. Almost nobody has built a habit here, which
leaves nearly every install base made up of shoppers who could go either way.
1,855
shoppers profiled
291
cities across 33 states
5
behaviours mapped
105,000+
on the MindLink panel
Speed is what this category promises, and convenience is what actually brings people in. Only 8.6% call quick
commerce a habit and only 15.8% say 10-minute delivery is very important to them. Convenience, availability and effort
avoided bring in 68.9%, while a lower price or a promotion moves 57.2% of switchers straight to another app.
W H AT W E A S K E D
Five questions on usage occasion, the
value of 10-minute delivery, purchase
reason, switching triggers and category
framing, fielded in Hindi and in English and
pooled into one national sample.
H O W T O R E A D T H I S
Base is 1,855 shoppers. Four questions were
answered by all of them. The switching
question was answered by 1,610, and its
figures are reported on that base. The
sample is 52.1% male, 39.5% under 25 and
61.6% non-metro.
W H A T E V E R Y R E S P O N D E N T C A R R I E S
A full profile against the same eight
mindsets used across 30+ MindLink
categories, so any slice of this sample is
already readable.
F I N D I N G 0 1
Shoppers call quick commerce a necessity and
still have not made it a routine
8.6%
describe quick commerce as a habit. Six in ten call it a
backup, a shortcut or a luxury rather than part of normal life.
What quick commerce means to shoppers
91.4% have not made it a habit 8.6% a habit
30.6% 30.1% 20.3% 10.4% 8.6%
A
necessity
A
backup
A
shortcut
A
luxury
A
habit
W H A T T O D O W I T H T H I S
There is no habit here to defend, so build one. Routine
baskets and replenishment do more for retention than
another minute off the clock.
F I N D I N G 0 2
The ten-minute promise moves few, and those it
moves want it for emergencies
68.3%
are neutral about 10-minute delivery, want it only in an
emergency, or say it does not matter at all. Only 15.8% call it
very important.
How much 10-minute delivery matters
68.3% are not sold on the clock
W H A T T O D O W I T H T H I S
Make speed a choice people opt into rather than a fixed
cost carried by every order. Most of this market is not asking
to pay for minutes.
Rare use is the single largest usage group. 49.2% reach for
these apps only occasionally.
●
Intent is there and routine is not. Necessity and backup sit
level, at 30.6% and 30.1%.
●
More say the clock does not matter at all than call it very
important. 24.9% against 15.8%.
●
Speed is wanted when something has gone wrong. 21.7% want
it only in an emergency, which is an insurance product rather
than a daily one.
●
F I N D I N G 0 3
Shoppers come to skip the errand, and the speed
of delivery matters least of all
37.5%
name convenience as the main reason they use these apps
over a store. Speed comes last of the five, at 13.4%.
Main reason for choosing the apps over a store
Convenience, availability and effort avoided 68.9%
speed accounts for 13.4% 100% of shoppers
W H A T T O D O W I T H T H I S
Sell the errand you never have to run. Convenience and
stock depth are the claims this market actually responds to.
F I N D I N G 0 4
Price and promotions move shoppers to another
app, and faster delivery does not hold them
57.2%
of shoppers who answered name a lower price or a promotion
as what moves them to another app. Only 13.2% say they stick
to one app at all.
What makes shoppers switch apps · base 1,610 who answered
A lower price or a promotion 57.2%
seven in eight are in play 100% who answered
W H A T T O D O W I T H T H I S
Assume price parity is table stakes and build loyalty
somewhere other than the delivery clock.
F I N D I N G 0 5
A fifth use these apps daily, and
speed matters far more to them than
to anyone else
3.8x
more of the daily-needs core rate 10-minute
delivery as very important than rare users do,
at 27.7% against 7.3%.
The daily-needs core against rare users, on three measures
W H A T T O D O W I T H T H I S
Sell speed to the fifth that asks for it and convenience to everyone else. One
proposition cannot carry both, and the panel already tells you who is who.
T H E T H R E E M O V E S
Three moves follow from the data, and none of them is a faster promise: build the routine basket, since only 8.6% have a habit to
defend; compete on stock and convenience, which bring in five times what speed does; and price the clock separately, because a
sixth of the market calls it very important and the rest do not.
Two mindsets in the same cities want opposite things from this category
16.2pp
separate Believers and Geeks on whether 10-
minute delivery is very important, at 27.9%
against 11.7%. Same cities, same age bands.
Mindset splits the proposition, demographics
do not.
49.2%
use these apps rarely. They sit inside every
install base and look identical to a loyal user in
app analytics. The difference only shows when
someone asks.
291 cities
across 33 states in six weeks, in two languages,
with no new panel build and no field team.
Widening this read needs more of the same.
Base: 1,855 shoppers, pooled from a Hindi cell of 751 and an English cell of 1,104. Four questions were answered by all 1,855; the switching question was answered by 1,610 and is
reported on that base. Fielded 7 February to 22 March 2026 across 291 cities in 33 Indian states. Margin of error about 2.3 points at 95% confidence.
MindLink · a product by The Salt Inc. mindlinkpanel.com
Being in stock beats being fast. Availability and offers follow
at 17.0% and 17.7%.
●
Effort avoided, rather than time saved, is what the category
sells. 14.3% simply say laziness.
●
Faster delivery pulls a seventh of switchers. Price pulls three
times as many, at 43.4% against 14.1%.
●
Availability is a retention lever as well as an acquisition one.
Better stock moves 15.5%.
●
They are 21.0% of the market and behave like
a different category from everyone else.
●
