Why are D2C brands redirecting ad spends to quick commerce?

The Indian quick commerce market is on a steep growth curve, with its Gross Order Value (GOV) projected to nearly triple from ₹64,000 crore in FY25 to about ₹2 lakh crore by FY28. This surge, according to a CareEdge Advisory report, is being fuelled by deeper geographic expansion, rising consumer demand for speed and convenience, and India’s accelerating digital adoption.

On top of this, what has been working in quick commerce’s favour is structural tailwinds such as rapid urbanisation, higher disposable incomes, and evolving lifestyles. At the same time, platforms are investing heavily in dark stores, tech infrastructure, and delivery optimisation—laying the foundation for scale and efficiency. 

Together, these shifts have accelerated the rise of Q-commerce, which has not only transformed how Indians shop but also how brands advertise. Once an experimental sales channel, platforms like Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, and BigBasket BB Now are now commanding a growing share of digital budgets from new-age brands.

Read more on ecommerce and festive spends

Many D2C founders e4m spoke with confirmed that ad spends on quick commerce have grown sharply over the last 12-18 months, in some cases by as much as 8-10X. Today, Q-Comm accounts for anywhere between 10-40% of overall digital budgets, and in some categories, the platform is growing faster than Amazon, Flipkart, and Meta combined. Notably, ad rates on these platforms have already shot up by nearly 50%, yet brands continue to buy aggressively — clear proof of the medium’s rising influence.

From experiment to core brand engine

“Q-Comm has now evolved into a core brand-building engine for us. For impulse-driven categories, the channel is uniquely positioned to capture consumer intent at the precise moment of demand creation. It is no longer just a distribution lever, it has emerged as a media ecosystem in itself, enabling us to penetrate deeper geographies, build strong TOMA, and cement leadership posturing,” said Muralikrishnan L, Co-founder & CMO, Wow! Momo.

He added that quick commerce is not just a seasonal play but a structural growth lever. Consumers engage with these platforms multiple times a week, so the brand treats them as always-on channels for both salience and repeat consumption.

This shift is visible across categories. Swapnil Srivastav, Co-Founder of sustainable kidswear brand Kidbea, stated, “A year ago, Q-Comm was barely 5-7% of our digital budget. Today it contributes 15-20%. While Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart, Meta, and Google still dominate our ad mix, the share of Q-Com is growing faster than any other channel. Over the last 12-18 months, our spends on Blinkit have grown by 35-40%.”

Similarly, Deep Bajaj, Founder of personal care Sirona, said quick commerce has moved from experiment to revenue driver. “Our spends on quick commerce has grown nearly 3X in the past six months. From under 5%, it now accounts for close to 20% of our digital ad budget. Once a consumer gets used to 10-minute delivery, there’s no going back—and that makes Q-Com a long-term bet rather than just seasonal.”

Read more on brands and q-comm

For D2C brand Two Brothers Organic Farms, spends on quick commerce has risen nearly 8–10X over the past 12–18 months, in line with the strong business growth on these platforms. Today, quick commerce accounts for about 15–20% of the brand’s overall digital budgets, underscoring its growing importance.

“Over the past 12–18 months, our ad spends have nearly doubled on quick commerce, with quarterly spends rising by about 25–30%. This growth has directly translated into higher sales, making Q-commerce a critical lever in our growth and customer engagement strategy. That said, spending here is still lower compared to traditional channels—roughly half of what we allocate to Amazon and about a third of what goes into Meta,” Sumit Suneja, Co-founder, D2C brand Rabitat told e4m.

Why brands are betting big

Beyond instant fulfilment, what has been driving this shift, as per brands, are clear business levers. They point to instant consumer reach, festive demand spikes, data-led targetting, visibility at the point of consumption, and competition for digital shelf space as the main reasons for prioritising quick commerce in their ad spends.

Read more on D2C festive spends

“For a brand like ours, which doesn’t have widespread distribution, quick commerce has become an important channel to ensure availability and reach,” said Ajinkya Hange, Co-founder of Two Brothers Organic Farms.

For Wow! Momo, the channel’s precision and measurability stand out. “With consumers already in a high-intent, purchase-ready mindset, the ROI profile of Q-Com significantly outperforms traditional digital ecosystems. At our scale, we track success through incremental sales uplift, conversion efficiency of sponsored assets, repeat-purchase velocity, and sustained share of voice within our core categories,” Muralikrishnan said. Blinkit and Instamart currently deliver the most robust ROI, Zepto is helping build relevance with younger consumers, and BB Now and Flipkart Minutes are scaling fast.

Wellbeing Nutrition has also seen strong traction, driven by a high-repeat audience that prefers Q-Com for convenience. “Currently, we allocate around 10% of our digital budget to quick commerce platforms. While the channel is gaining importance, we still view it largely as a convenience-led play, with discovery continuing to be driven by marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart,” said Saurabh Kapoor, Co-founder of Wellbeing Nutrition.

While marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart continue to dominate discovery and scale, and Meta and Google remain core performance drivers for many D2C brands, quick commerce is fast emerging as the sharp end of the spear—delivering instant reach, measurable ROI, and unmatched consumer proximity. For most brands, the focus is less on replacing traditional platforms and more on rebalancing the mix, with Q-comm now poised to become a permanent fixture in the digital media stack.