The rise of 10-minute delivery services in India has transformed consumer behaviour, reshaping the way people shop for groceries, medicines, and even hot meals. What started as a necessity during the Covid-19 lockdown has now evolved into a fiercely competitive business model, with companies racing to fulfill orders at lightning speed. While this innovation offers unmatched convenience, it also raises serious concerns about worker exploitation, ethical business practices, health risks, and urban sustainability. The question remains: Is this business model truly beneficial, or is it dangerously unsustainable?

Traditionally, shopping involved physical interaction, where consumers visited local markets, engaged with kirana store shopkeepers, and made informed purchases based on personalized service, trust, and social bonds. This system fostered strong community relationships. However, rapid urbanization gave rise to the emergence of departmental stores which disrupted this traditional model, presenting a wider variety of products under one roof with appealing ambience and organized shelves. This shift gradually pulled customers away from kirana stores, which had long been the backbone of Indian retail. However, as the time passed, visiting these stores posed challenges.

Advertisement

These included navigating congested roads in high density urban areas; lack of safe parking spaces leading to inconvenience and expensive hourly parking charges, discouraging prolonged shopping trips. This led to the emergence of e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart, enabling home deliveries via courier services ~ allowing consumers to purchase effortlessly without stepping out. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated this shift dramatically.

Advertisement

With lockdowns confining people to their homes, the demand for home deliveries skyrocketed. Essentials, medicines, and groceries were ordered online, and businesses swiftly adapted by optimizing logistics for speed. This period saw the emergence of quick commerce, where companies promised deliveries within minutes. Post-pandemic, the convenience of doorstep deliveries remained irresistible. Entrepreneurs capitalized on this trend, offering ultra-fast services to compete with online shopping.

This led to the birth of 10-minute delivery, a model that relies on dedicated stores (generally called dark stores), AI-driven........

© The Statesman