Scaling with safety: Zepto’s bid on the quick commerce space

Since its inception in 2021, Mumbai-based quick commerce startup Zepto is aggressively scaling its 10-minute delivery business in India. 

In a recent conversation with YourStory’s Daily Dispatch, Aadit Palicha, Co-founder and CEO, Zepto, said the first step of getting into the 10-minute delivery business is identifying the most ideal area to place a delivery centre to get the best access to customers.

In terms of driver safety, Aadit said, “Zepto has an accident every 13 million vehicular kilometres, making it 3 times safer than any other travel-based industry.” 

He claimed, quarterly, Zepto has grown about 712 percent. Besides, the Indian Premier League (IPL) brought in several opportunities for the startup.

ALSO READ

Need an ambulance in under 10 minutes? StanPlus is here to help

“We are the youngest company in history to be having a full-blown campaign on Disney+Hotstar — the broadcasting sponsor of IPL for OTT platforms,” he said. 

On an hourly basis during IPL games, Zepto claims to see a 40 percent order spike in various categories. Additionally, it has witnessed a 4X growth in the beverages and munchies categories as compared to last month. 

According to Aadit, the quick commerce startup has plans to continue its aggressive scaling strategies in the future.

“We’re now live across all the major cities in India — from Mumbai to Kolkata to Hyderabad, and in between,” he said. Zepto also aims to go deeper into the existing geographies. 

“For us, our North Star metric is GMV to burn ratio,” Aadit says, adding that the company wants to expand this ratio from 1:3 to 1:5 in the future. 

In terms of funding, Aadit said that raising money is not the issue anymore, but finding the right partners under the right terms.

“Will we need capital? The answer is yes. Are we in a position where capital is accessible and coming from people we would be excited to work with? The answer is also yes,” he signed-off.