Amazon Now

Amazon Now is Amazon’s entry into India’s quick‑commerce market. It was launched across more than 300 cities in mid‑2026, after a quiet pilot that ran for about a year in Bangalore under the name Project Tez.

Instead of copying the dark‑store model used by Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart, Amazon built a hybrid fulfilment network. It combines large Urban Fulfilment Centres, over 1,000 small Micro‑Fulfilment Centres, and thousands of neighbourhood kirana shops through the “I Have Space” programme. It also borrows cold‑chain infrastructure from Amazon Fresh to handle dairy, frozen, and fresh products.

Amazon was late to quick commerce. The market had already grown to an estimated $5.5 to $6 billion in annual gross merchandise value, with players like Blinkit operating over 2,400 dark stores and achieving profitability in early 2026. But Amazon’s timing is strategic. It spent a year learning in Bangalore, watched competitors prove the model, and then entered with its own strengths: a massive customer base, Prime membership, a wide product catalogue, and deep logistics experience.

The result is a service that prioritises coverage and reliability over pure speed, aiming to make quick commerce available in places that previously had no such option. This report explains how Amazon Now works, why Amazon waited, how the model compares to competitors, and what challenges lie ahead.

By early 2026, India’s quick‑commerce sector was dominated by three players, all using the dark‑store model: small, strategically placed warehouses that pack and ship orders in minutes.

• Blinkit (owned by Zomato): over 2,400 dark stores, serving around 40 cities, delivery in 10 to 12 minutes.
• Zepto: roughly 1,100 dark stores, present in 20 cities, delivery in 8 to 10 minutes.
• Swiggy Instamart: roughly 1,000 dark stores, 30 cities, delivery in 15 to 20 minutes.

Together, these platforms and a few others had built an estimated 5,625 dark stores across 408 cities. But the top 20 cities held about two‑thirds of all these stores. Large parts of India still had no access to instant delivery. Amazon Now entered this market with a very different playbook, but not before a careful test run.

Amazon Now does not rely entirely on dark stores. It uses a hybrid network that mixes several pieces, each designed for a different job. Before rolling it out nationally, Amazon tested this setup in Bangalore for about a year, running the service under the name Project Tez.

Urban Fulfilment Centres (UFCs)

Amazon is setting up more than 100 large warehouses in major cities. These centres hold about four times the variety of a typical dark store, focusing on high‑value items like electronics, apparel, jewellery, and furniture. They are not meant for just groceries.

Micro‑Fulfilment Centres (MFCs)

For faster delivery deeper into cities, Amazon is opening over 1,000 small storage spaces across 100 cities. These are run by third‑party partners, so Amazon does not own the inventory directly. This keeps costs low and helps with regulatory compliance.

Kirana Partners (“I Have Space”)

With Amazon Now, local shops can also fulfil quick orders. When a customer orders something, the nearest kirana store that stocks the item packs it, and a delivery partner collects and delivers it. This turns thousands of existing shops into mini‑fulfilment points.

Amazon Fresh’s Cold Chain

For items that need temperature control (dairy, frozen foods, fresh produce), Amazon Now taps into the existing cold storage and delivery network that Amazon Fresh already operates. This means Amazon does not need to build separate cold rooms for its quick‑commerce service.

Delivery Fleet

To connect these nodes, Amazon is deploying 1,000 electric Eicher Pro‑X trucks for city operations. It is also investing in the “Sammaan” programme to support delivery partners with insurance, scholarships, and rest centres.

• 01
  Old supply chain, new problemAmazon’s core e‑commerce network is built around large fulfilment centres on city outskirts. Building a parallel hyperlocal network took time.
• 02
  Focus on groceryAmazon believed that planned grocery purchases (via Amazon Fresh) would be the bigger market, overlooking the impulse‑buy segment.
• 03
  Fast‑follower strategy with a pilotAmazon often lets others test a new market and then enters with its scale. With quick commerce, it first ran a Bangalore‑only pilot (Project Tez) for about a year.
• 04
  Regulatory cautionIndia’s FDI rules ban foreign‑funded companies from owning inventory and selling directly. Amazon’s kirana‑partner model avoids this problem by using independent stores to hold and pack goods.

Amazon enters late, but it brings several strengths that competitors do not have:

The main weakness is speed in big cities. In dense metros like Mumbai and Bangalore, Blinkit or Zepto can deliver in 8 to 10 minutes because their dark stores are everywhere.

Quality control is another concern. A kirana store may substitute a product or pack it less carefully than an automated dark store. Amazon must train its store partners well and monitor quality closely to protect its brand.

In simple terms, Amazon Now trades a few minutes of speed for far wider coverage, lower costs, and a larger basket size.

The quick‑commerce market is still burning cash. Flipkart Minutes, which launched just before the 2024 festive season, is spending roughly $40 million a month to gain share across 130 cities. This forces Amazon to keep prices competitive even if margins are thin initially.

Amazon’s model is designed to avoid these pitfalls, but it will need to stay careful as the legal environment evolves.

Amazon Now is a different kind of quick‑commerce play. It trades a few minutes of delivery speed for much wider coverage, a larger product catalogue, and a cost structure that is lighter on real estate. By combining large urban warehouses, small third‑party fulfilment centres, thousands of neighbourhood kirana shops, and Amazon Fresh’s cold chain, Amazon has built a model that can reach hundreds of cities without the heavy spending that dark stores require.

The company was late, but its timing is strategic. It spent a year learning from a Bangalore pilot, watched competitors prove that quick commerce can work, and then entered with a model that plays to its own strengths — Prime, logistics, and customer trust — while avoiding the regulatory problems that come with owning inventory.