The Daily Brief Is 10-Minute delivery just an Indian story?
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Jan 8, 2026 Explore the rapid rise of quick commerce in India and why it thrives under its unique cultural habits. Discover how operational challenges and cost differences impact the feasibility of 10-minute delivery globally. Delve into the complexities of international standards, where emerging markets face biases that shape their export costs. Learn about the role of third-party certifiers and how rising participation from countries like India and China is influencing global market compliance. Catch up on the latest corporate and banking insights towards the end!
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Why Ten-Minute Delivery Works In India
- Quick commerce succeeded in India because low labour costs, dense cities, and frequent small-basket shopping fit the model's high-utilization needs.
- In high-wage or low-density markets the same model collapsed due to poor unit economics and regulatory or spatial constraints.
Dark Stores And Always-Ready Labor
- Quick commerce depends on always-ready pickers and riders and tiny fulfilment nodes called dark stores to meet strict time promises.
- The model tolerates almost no batching or routing flexibility because time is the non-negotiable promise.
Labour Utilization Is The Killer Metric
- High hourly labour costs make waiting time expensive and quickly destroy slim gross margins in quick commerce.
- The model only works when labour utilization stays consistently high, which is rare in many Western markets.