Order it, pack it and deliver it: Q-commerce cos plan to bring large electronics orders home in 30 mins

Large appliances such as refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, and microwave ovens may get a sales fillip as quick commerce companies Swiggy Instamart and Eternal's Blinkit, among others initiate talks with their manufacturers to enter the segment, according to four industry executives.

Incumbents Flipkart, Amazon, and Reliance Retail's JioMart are also pushing to shorten delivery times for large appliances. Walmart-owned Flipkart has piloted two-hour delivery of large appliances in about a dozen cities, with installation included in certain cases, handled by in-house teams. Until now, most such deliveries took a day or more, with same or next day delivery available only in select locations.

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"Quick-commerce sales would require service coordination for faster installation of products," said Sanjay Chitkara, director at LG Electronics India. He said some operators, including Swiggy, had approached the company and that it was evaluating the opportunity.

Kamal Nandi, business head (appliances) at Godrej Enterprises Group, said some e-commerce platforms, including Flipkart and Amazon, were looking at two-hour delivery across their product ranges. "We can try same-day installation in certain pin codes," he said. "E-commerce is becoming an important channel."

E-commerce and quick-commerce companies had previously experimented with rapid delivery of large appliances, but with limited assortments and little success. Blinkit, for instance, launched 10-minute delivery of Lloyd air conditioners in Delhi-NCR last year, with plans to expand to other cities. The service however failed to generate significant demand.

So far, faster deliveries have largely remained confined to "grab-and-go" products such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, headphones and accessories.

Reliance Retail chief financial officer Dinesh Taluja recently told analysts that the company is strengthening the omni-channel integration of JioMart, with all of the group's large-format electronics stores now live on the platform for two-hour deliveries of grab-and-go items. Industry executives said Reliance is now planning to extend it to other categories too.

Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance Retail, Swiggy and Eternal didn't respond to email queries.

Quick-commerce firms have captured a significant share of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market, accounting for 7-8% of sales at many large companies. They are now looking to expand beyond FMCG to increase average order values and improve margins.

Rather than setting up dedicated dark stores for large appliances, as some had previously planned, these companies are exploring models that use manufacturers' warehouses and retail stores. This could reduce fixed real-estate costs while offering a wider product range and greater availability.

An executive at a large e-commerce company said quick commerce has shifted consumer expectations for delivery speed, creating pressure to offer faster delivery across product categories.