what is Quick commerce and how does it improve your business?

Quick commerce or Q-commerce is fast e-commerce. It refers to those businesses dedicated to making home deliveries in a short period of time. Most of the time, the products offered are for immediate consumption. Its main peculiarity is that it needs the Internet to manage delivery services, payments and user profiles. The most famous business model in this sector is food delivery. Based on the study of the competition and knowing its success in today's society, big brands such as El Corte Inglés have incorporated it into their services.

The Quick commerce concept intrinsically encompasses a delivery time of minutes or hours. The shorter the waiting time, the more motivated the user will be to make a purchase. The immediacy or need to consume a product here and now is decisive for the final decision. Digitalisation is the key factor in the arrival of online shopping. Many physical shops have had to evolve and adapt their business to the digital world to achieve greater feedback from the target audience. Through Q-commerce, unlimited products are offered in a convenient and fast way.

Benefits of Quick commerce

• Sustainable mobility: Delivery drivers often use bicycles, scooters or scooters, thus avoiding traffic and reducing the environmental impact.
• Local logistics: Q-commerce is locally limited, but this is an advantage for small local businesses as they can benefit from this process and sell to customers nearby.
• Increased profits: It is a practical and sustainable business model. It opens up a new sales channel that guarantees a profit for the company. It is a scalable business as rethinking the logistics network or opening centres to increase service levels will ensure continued growth.

• Immediacy: Its peculiarity is to offer a product in the shortest possible time. Speed is one of the elements most valued by the online customer and will measure the efficiency of your home delivery.
• Quality: Although it is a fast and home delivery service, businesses take care that the product does not lose quality during transport. For example, the Madrid haute cuisine restaurant GoXO offers this service by reinterpreting the products on the menu so that they do not lose their flavour or aesthetics.

Characteristics of Quick commerce

• Convenience: Customers who consume this type of service want the product immediately. They need it and do not have the time or means to buy it in person. If the establishment has stock, Quick commerce offers the possibility of home delivery in a short time. User satisfaction is guaranteed.
• Immediate delivery: In a world where immediacy triumphs, this peculiarity of Q-commerce is essential. These services deliver in a matter of hours or minutes.
• Availability: On many occasions, the physical shop has run out of stock. In these cases, ordering the products at home guarantees that you will not run out of this service. For this reason, in this type of business it is common to charge more for the service as a supplier than for the product itself.
• Proximity: The limitations of Quick commerce are of proximity. Despite having a good logistics service, only local addresses can be covered.
• Specific technology: In this type of business, technology is oriented towards the consumer, which is why they need to have big data tools to collect, organise and manage user data.
• Means of transport: In order to guarantee fast deliveries, they use bicycles or electric scooters to deliver products, thus avoiding city traffic.

Quick commerce and ecommerce

Q-commerce is a new form of e-commerce. They share characteristics such as digitalisation, home delivery and speed. However, quick commerce goes one step further. It combines advantages of e-commerce with advances in delivery services. While e-commerce offers delivery within days or hours, Q-commerce can deliver within minutes. Another main difference is that e-commerce usually uses larger transport vehicles, unlike quick commerce, which is characterised by CO2 reduction through the use of light vehicles.

what types of business does Q-commerce work for?

This type of business is oriented towards a specific product, e.g. food from online supermarkets, fresh produce, cleaning products, cosmetics, toys or gifts. The rise of teleworking has also included the purchase of office products or electronics. Companies such as Amazon Prime Now or Glovo have benefited from this by expanding their catalogue of services.

how to implement Quick commerce in a business?

In order to implement Q-commerce for retailers of products, it is advisable to have a team in place to meet the needs of customers by making immediate deliveries. Therefore, the logistics system must include:

• Riders: The delivery team is essential for these businesses and can be part of the company or be subcontracted from outside sites.
• Distribution premises: The business must have centres to make deliveries in the established area. These can be its own premises refurbished to become dark stores or logistics warehouses. There are also alliances with businesses in the area to act as suppliers.

5 examples of success in Q-commerce

Amazon: A triumph in e-commerce and working with third-party companies, it has incorporated Q-Commerce by offering the option of delivery with Amazon Prime, which delivers its products within 24 hours.

Glovo: It was the company that triumphed by adopting the fast delivery model. At the end of 2020, they expanded their catalogue by offering all kinds of products and aim to position themselves as a reference application for Quick Commerce by working with external brands such as Primor, Día or Alcampo.

El Corte Inglés: They have adapted to digitalisation by incorporating e-commerce into their business and later on, they enabled the El Corte Inglés Plus delivery service where they provide this service in a maximum of 2 hours.

Uber: It has its variants in Uber Taxi or Uber Eats, but it also works as a supplier of other people's products.

Carrefour: The supermarket company has adapted to fast commerce by delivering purchases at home. It has an extensive catalogue and guarantees delivery in less than 20 minutes. They work with the delivery company Uber.