By early 2021, India’s online grocery market had reached an inflexion point. The initial challenge, persuading consumers to buy from e-marketplaces for convenience, was largely over. Same-day delivery was fast becoming an industry benchmark. And the race was shifting to the next battleground: Speed. A handful of ambitious players were gearing up to offer ‘instant’ doorstep delivery.

The concept was not exactly novel. Ultra-fast delivery had its first run in the US, Europe and parts of Asia in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Early players like Delivery Hero, Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat built their empires on restaurant deliveries, much like Zomato in India. But GoPuff stood out, extending the model to snacks, household goods and other essentials.

Today’s quick-commerce (q-commerce) landscape has evolved into something broader. One can get printed documents or passport photos home-delivered within 15 minutes. The sector is growing, but not at the breakneck pace of traditional ecommerce. Globally, q-commerce is projected to reach $337.6 Bn by 2032, up from $184.5 Bn in 2025, at a CAGR of 9.01%. On the other hand, ecommerce is on track to hit $75.1 Tn by 2034, from $21.6 Tn in 2025, growing at a 14.9% CAGR.

The story is still unfolding in India, but venture capital has been the most persistent visitor to the ecommerce space. VCs poured in $35 Bn since 2014 as founders and investors chase the promise of high-frequency, habit-forming transactions.

Nevertheless, when Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, computer science students at Stanford, decided to drop out and set up Zepto, the industry was startled by their signature pitch: Groceries delivered in 10 minutes.

The first iteration was KiranaKart, launched in mid-2020 with a 45-minute delivery window using local kirana stores. But within months, the founders pivoted to a dark-store model and a tightly controlled logistics network, confident that their density and operational precision could make the 10-minute promise viable at scale.

In April 2021, a rebranded Zepto launched in Mumbai, its 10-minute pledge supported by a fast-expanding grid of micro-warehouses. These urban fulfilment hubs were designed to compress order processing and last-mile deliveries into a single operational sprint, the backbone of Zepto’s quick-commerce engine.

It was a bold initiative, but Zepto was not the sole player. Around the same time, Blinkit (still operating as Grofers but on its way to the Zomato stable) began piloting its ultra-fast deliveries in select locations. By mid-2021, the company rolled out the 10-minute model across multiple cities, backed by its deep capital base, broader geographic footprint and an evolving logistics stack capable of compressing delivery times without collapsing unit economics.

When Swiggy rolled out Instamart in late 2020, the promise was brisk but not breathless — groceries at your door in 30-45 minutes. BigBasket, too, dabbled in faster fulfilment with BBNow, shaving delivery time where it could. But its mainstay was scheduled grocery delivery. Dunzo, a veteran of hyperlocal logistics, leaned on pick-ups and small-basket deliveries but had a modest footprint.

Into this crowded, tentative space came Zepto, a q-commerce startup built for speed from Day 1. While its rivals inched toward shorter turnaround times, it committed to ultra-fast delivery as a non-negotiable. Zepto optimised every link in the chain, from choosing dark-store sites to SKU curation and fleet management, to make low delivery time the default, not the exception.

Its early marketing matched this single-minded focus. Zepto did not sell the idea of fast groceries as a luxury meant for consumer indulgence. It framed the concept as a lifeline to deal with everyday emergencies. Its ads featured the messy urgency of real life — milk threatening to boil over, but the rest of the ingredients are missing, or a baby urgently needing a diaper change. The message was clear. Sometimes, waiting is not an option.

Back then, many were still sceptical about 10-minute deliveries, wondering if it was a gimmick or a costly race to the bottom due to zero sustainability. But the value became clear as deliveries rolled in and users experienced the convenience firsthand.

“Earlier, people might have said, ‘We will get it in the evening’ or ‘We will buy it tomorrow.’ But over time, they saw how useful immediate delivery could be,” said Chandan Mendiratta, Zepto’s chief brand and culture officer.

As demand surged, rivals quickly shifted gears. Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and others ramped up their infrastructure to match the 10-minute benchmark. What began as a bold bet on consumer impatience had quietly reset expectations and industry standards, turning ‘tomorrow’ into an anachronism.

It has kick-started a retail category that continues to redefine how urban India shops for groceries, essentials, and increasingly, non-essentials. In fact, it reflects a deeper shift — the transformation of online grocery from a convenience-driven service to an infrastructure-heavy, capital-intensive logistics business — one where margins are thin. But the prize is dominance in a habit-forming category.

Interestingly, Zepto has posted the fastest growth among India’s quick-commerce operators. The startup has scaled to more than 60K SKUs within four years across 25 main categories and 40-50 sub-categories. It runs 900 dark stores in more than 70 cities, mostly metros and Tier I markets.

“Whatever categories we enter, our core proposition stays. If you look at our tagline, it says: Everything in 10 minutes,” said Mendiratta.

Zepto is now looking to extend that promise in a sector where competitors invest heavily to capture market share. The startup relies on in-house marketing tools, high-frequency brand campaigns, and meticulously managed user acquisition and retention systems to stay ahead of the curve.

As part of our ongoing CMO Code series, Inc42 explores how Zepto positions itself as a long-term player in an industry where scaling profitably is as critical as delivering fast.

Inside Zepto’s Brand Engine: How The Startup Scales Without Spending Big

According to Mendiratta, “A brand is not just about looking good. It is about staying consistent, showing up often and giving people........

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