Article

Brands Once Desperate For Quick Commerce Now Have A Tiger By The Tail

The Ken Paid Advanced India

The Ken's deep, unsentimental reporting on how q-comm dependence compresses brand margins to the bone, including the founder line about running a business to pay commissions rather than to make money. Paywalled but worth it for the honesty. (URL live but bot-blocked; verify manually.)

  • Margins reported as low as ~3% when half of revenue comes from q-comm
  • Commission plus in-app visibility can consume a large share of revenue
  • 70%+ gross margin brands cope; others use q-comm as loss-making acquisition
Open on the-ken.com ↗

It answers 3 questions

  1. What margins, commissions and listing fees do Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart take?
  2. How is quick-commerce economics different from selling on my own D2C website?
  3. Is quick commerce actually profitable for a D2C brand, and which categories work best?

Read with it

  1. An honest, founder-sourced look at the fee stack squeezing D2C margins across marketplaces and quick commerce. Read it to... Inc42 Article Brands In Catch-22: Ecommerce Platform Fees Grow, Margins Shrink Inc42
  2. The most decision-grade, operator-built playbook we found, SKU-level data and city-by-city war stories across... DSG Consumer Partners Report Quick Commerce Playbook 2025: What's Driving Growth for Top D2C Brands DSG Consumer Partners x GobbleCube
  3. The clearest step-by-step walkthrough of the messy operational bits others gloss over, the NPI product-introduction flow and,... Unicommerce Blog Article How to Sell on Blinkit: Complete Seller Onboarding Guide Unicommerce
  4. A solid strategic frame on where q-comm fits in a D2C brand's channel mix, including how brands use enablers to defend delivery... Inc42 Article Matter of Minutes: How D2C Brands Can Win the Quick Commerce Game Inc42
  5. The counter-view small founders need, sellers describe listing fees, forced weekly POs and bundled ad packages delivering weak... Storyboard18 Article Quick-Commerce's Ad-Fee Toll: Are Platforms Squeezing Out Small D2C Brands? Storyboard18
  6. A concrete India case of the right way to enter, a personal-care brand going narrow with hero SKUs and select cities instead of... YourStory Article Nat Habit Enters Quick Commerce With a Targeted, Limited-SKU Rollout YourStory
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →