Quick commerce platforms gear up for gourmet grocery war

Quick commerce is gearing up for a gourmet grocery war. IPO-bound Zepto is set to launch its Select range, Flipkart Minutes is planning to offer a premium grocery range and Amazon Now has started piloting Gourmet Picks, according to people aware of the developments.

Meanwhile, Swiggy's Instamart is broadening its Nectr and Noice offerings, and Blinkit has expanded its Gourmet Store to target shoppers of premium produce. This comes at a time when platforms for high-end comestibles, like Peak XV-backed FirstClub, Milkbasket cofounder Anant Goel’s Handpickd, and consumer brands like Pluckk, are gaining investor attention.

Zepto’s Select is being planned as a dedicated section on its app for imported products, premium grocery, fresh produce, and more, according to people aware of the development. The company has already started talking to brands to onboard products, sources said. Zepto already operates a Premium Harvest Store on its app, offering bakery products, dairy, and fresh fruits and vegetables.


“For incumbents, the focus is to increase the average order value (AOV) in their existing markets. These offerings could help in increasing the basket size in the top cities. Flipkart Minutes and Amazon Now are also catching up with the trend,” said an industry executive.

Flipkart Minutes is likely to launch its premium segment on its app in the next two weeks, sources told ET. Meanwhile, Amazon Now has started piloting its gourmet segment in some pincodes in Bengaluru, a person aware of the development said.

Eternal, Swiggy, Zepto, Amazon Now and Flipkart Minutes did not respond to ET’s queries at the time of publication of this story. Moneycontrol was the first to report on Zepto’s offering.

Premium demand

The push for premium grocery on quick commerce comes at a time when new platforms and D2C brands focused on clean food enter the sector, according to experts.

FirstClub, launched in 2025, has taken a quality-first approach and offers a smaller selection compared to quick commerce apps. While it has onboarded gourmet and clean-ingredients-focused D2C brands on its platform, FirstClub also has its own brand, Member’s Pick.

Instamart launched Nectr and Noice last year. Now the platform is giving greater prominence to Nectr, its direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand for locally sourced fresh fruits and vegetables, on its app for select users. These products are currently available at discounts of 20-40%.

“Swiggy has previously spoken about their positioning to upgrade users’ lifestyles. Instamart is focusing on 'better for you' offerings through brands like Nectr. They are clear they don't want to play the value game. The positioning they want to go after is that they can help consumers get better products across categories’,” said Mukul Arora, co-managing partner, Elevation Capital, one of Swiggy's earliest backers.

AOV push

According to experts, premiumisation is the next big thing for quick commerce’s unit economics. “There is growing demand for it. Such products could be priced as much as 50% higher than the regular variant. So, it makes sense to own brands under this category since it offers better margins,” said a quick commerce market researcher, who did not wish to be named.

Satish Meena, founder of Datum Intelligence, said, “While the emergence of platforms like FirstClub and Handpickd is pushing traditional quick commerce into this segment, they also need it because there are questions around the quality of storage and handling in dark stores.”

Meena said premiumisation will help platforms to increase their AOV since the gourmet category is priced higher. “Quick commerce platforms can identify the pincodes that have customers willing to pay, and only stock such products in those locations,” he added.

Last month, FirstClub raised $55 million led by Peak XV and Sofina at a $255 million valuation. D2C farm produce brand Pluckk raised $10.8 million from existing investor Euro Gulf Investment in an all-equity round in April. In 2025, Handpickd secured $15 million in a round led by Bertelsmann India Investments.