Quick commerce, or Q-commerce as it is known popularly, is all about delivering goods, usually within an hour or just a few minutes after an order is made. It emphasizes speed and convenience, catering to the growing consumer desire for fast and efficient access to essentials such as groceries, personal care products, and household items. Here, we’ll explore what Q-commerce means and what it entails.
Quick commerce or Q-commerce is the next step in the natural progression of eCommerce. As is evident by the name, the importance of quick commerce is to be “quick.” The concept of quick commerce was built out of necessity. In the current, fast-paced world, the need for speed is tantamount. Consumers require products, and they need those delivered fast. Quick commerce is especially popular in certain areas of product delivery, such as groceries, takeaways, and fast food. However, this concept is slowly making its presence known in other product markets.
This concept has become so popular that giant companies such as Amazon are experimenting with drone technologies to see if delivery can be made faster.
What are the Benefits of Quick Commerce?
For products that are available locally and can be stored without elaborate warehouse requirements, quick commerce has come with the boon of speed that can boost their product delivery time and sales. Various brands utilize this opportunity to boost their product sales using quick commerce. Quick commerce has several benefits, of which the major three are discussed here.
• Better Delivery Time
Quick commerce has a major advantage over conventional retail products. Quick commerce can deliver products in a fraction of the time compared to their retail counterparts. Products using quick commerce ensure that their products can be stored locally. To ensure a successful product run, local centers store these products because they don’t have stringent storage guidelines. As a result, when customers order one of these products, they can often get them delivered within an hour. Since the storage areas do not have customers visiting them, they can use the entire space to store various products effectively. This way, they can store more products and have them ready to be packed and delivered at a minute’s notice. This gives certain companies an edge over their competitors as they can deliver the products faster, which is the need of the hour.
• Improved Customer Experience
One of the major benefits of quick commerce is better customer satisfaction. More than ever, customers appreciate the quick delivery time. If they forget any item, they no longer have to wait days for the item to be delivered. This is especially true if it is a food item; no one wants to wait days for their food to arrive. Neither do they want to go out to have food. Quick commerce brings the food to the customers’ doorsteps, making them happy. If the business owner ensures stringent quality control, customer satisfaction improves by leaps and bounds. Quick commerce ensures a level of convenience that is automatically guaranteed to make customer’s life easier. Often, customers use quick commerce to relieve their tension and stress.
• Product Availability is Guaranteed
Another advantage of quick commerce is that the products the customer orders are always available. If a product is unavailable, it is not displayed in the application. You need to adjust the product inventory on a real-time basis. So, the ingress and egress of the products are continuously adjusted. Companies invest in AI-based software applications to manage their inventory continuously. These companies also have mobile applications so that real-time updates can be monitored continuously. Moreover, these applications monitor the product order pattern over some time to forecast demand and keep them supplied accordingly. All these factors ensure that the product is available at all times.
Quick Commerce vs. eCommerce
Quick commerce and eCommerce are both types of delivery of online product orders. However, that is where the similarities end. Their major differences can be broadly categorized into three varieties: time, product type, and ease. Let’s look at them individually.
- Time – eCommerce products are delivered within a set timeline of a minimum of 24-48 hours; quick commerce products can be delivered within a fraction of that timeline, often within an hour. That saves customers stress and tension stemming from running out of products.
- Product Type – While quick commerce and ecommerce products overlap sometimes, there are considerable differences in product type. Quick commerce products are easily available, high in demand, and do not require specific storage conditions. The products are usually curated according to local needs and demands.
- Ease – Quick commerce products are most conveniently available, curated to the area they are in, and can be supplied to your doorstep immediately. This makes the service highly coveted and frequently ordered.
What are the Steps to Implement Quick Commerce?
In order to start a quick commerce business, a few steps must be implemented to ensure the business is long-standing, successful, and caters to customer demands. Here are the three crucial pillars of building a successful Q-commerce business:
• Set up Local Centers
Ensure that you set up local storage centers or hubs. These should be strategically located at a place’s central pulse points and within an hour of reach for customers. Remember, quick commerce thrives on speed. So, you must ensure that the centers you choose are never far away. After consumers place an order, the system should automatically locate the nearest delivery center for fulfillment.
• Pick and Choose the Items
When setting up a quick commerce business, check the most popular products in the area and stock them regularly. The products you stock will determine the success of your business. Common items to stock include groceries, medicine, and gift items. Pick and choose your products carefully to ensure they are always in demand and keep them stocked religiously.
• Invest in the Right Software
Another essential factor in building a successful Q-commerce business is investing in an effective software solution to monitor important aspects such as inventory management. The common pitfalls to avoid are overstocking or understocking items. You should also remove out-of-stock items from the application; an effective software will do just that.
Conclusion:
Quick commerce is a relatively new player in the market and, as such, has immense untapped potential. Q-commerce can be a booming business when done right. Considerable market research should go in even before you set up this business. Choosing the right location is crucial, along with efficient inventory management. Selecting the right products to store and ensuring they are always available at the customer’s beck and call can also be an important success factor. When done right, quick commerce can be broadened into including products previously unavailable for delivery, such as medicines. Introducing products can be hit and miss, so the best way is to introduce a product and gradually spread it based on its popularity. Quick commerce can provide an effective way to deliver products faster with improved customer satisfaction.
If you are looking for an efficient 3PL provider to help you set up a quick commerce business, contact with us we will be happy to help.
About XPDEL:
XPDEL is a leading hi-tech provider of fulfillment and logistics services on a mission to enable growth for eCommerce companies. We are futuristic in our vision and constantly work on creating technology that helps us meet customer expectations for today and tomorrow. Our wide network of fulfillment centers enables us to efficiently handle nationwide delivery in the US – same day, next day, and 2-day delivery. Being closer to the end consumer, we deliver much faster than others.
