I came across an article in a leading national newspaper talking about how quick commerce is becoming the new playground for brand innovation. It mentioned many examples, Akshayakalpa, Cycle, Plum and Dairy Day, among others.
On the surface, it all sounds exciting, faster launches, real time feedback, small batch testing, and rapid scale.
But step back for a moment, and there’s a deeper question worth asking, At what cost is this growth coming? What we are seeing today is not just a shift in distribution. It’s a shift in control.
When brands build within the quick commerce ecosystem, they are effectively handing over their most valuable asset, customer data, to closed platforms. These platforms control discovery, visibility, and ultimately, growth. In return, brands are pushed into a loop of “promotions” and performance spends.
It works beautifully in the beginning. You launch fast. You see traction. Numbers move. Everyone feels good. But then comes the threshold moment.
At that point, growth is no longer organic, it becomes dependent. The only lever left is to spend more. More visibility. More discounts. More platform driven pushes. And suddenly, what looked like a growth engine starts behaving like a treadmill. You’re running harder, but not really moving forward. And here’s where it gets even more interesting.
Most brands start on one platform. But scale ambition pulls them into all platforms. Each with its own logic, its own promotions, its own playbook. The result? A fragmented brand presence. Disjointed messaging. And slowly, a trust deficit. The consumer no longer sees a brand with a clear story. They see a product that keeps showing up, everywhere, differently.
And that’s the real risk. Brands are forgetting what built them in the first place. Before the digital explosion, retailers stocked brands because customers demanded them. Customers demanded them as they connected with the brand stories.
Today, that equation has flipped. Brands are being discovered because platforms push them, not because consumers seek them out. This means the power has shifted. Completely.
A small story that says a lot. There’s a small Konkan restaurant I occasionally visit. The food is exceptional. Interestingly, it’s not listed on any delivery platforms. Out of curiosity, I once asked the owner why.
His answer was simple. “My customers come here because they love what I serve. My food needs to be eaten hot. If it reaches after an hour, it’s not the same experience. Why should I pay 30% for that?”
He wasn’t against growth. He just wasn’t willing to compromise the experience that defines him. He even offered a middle ground, deliver within a radius where quality can be maintained and no price change.
That’s clarity. That’s purpose. And most importantly, that’s control. The real question for brand builders is, Are we building brands that customers will search for? Or are we building brands that platforms will serve up? These two are very different journeys. One builds equity. The other builds dependency.
What happens next actually? Right now, quick commerce is in its growth phase. It feels like the future. And it may well be a part of it.
But if brands don’t invest in their own narrative, their own consumer connect, their own demand creation, something interesting will happen. They will grow fast. And then, almost suddenly, consumers will stop relating.
Not because the product is bad. But because the brand never stood for anything beyond availability. It gets seen. It gets bought. But it is not remembered.
This is where the uncanny valley for brands kicks in, not technological, but emotional. Familiar, visible, even purchased, but never truly connected with.
Quick commerce is a powerful tool. I’m not for a minute discounting that. But it cannot be the foundation of a brand. At best, it should be an enabler.
The real work still lies where it always did, in building a story, creating meaning, and earning a place in the consumer’s mind. And there’s a lot brand owners can do here, meaningfully, and without burning a hole in their pockets, if there’s a willingness to explore
In the end, the strongest brands are not the ones that are easiest to buy. They are the ones people go out of their way to find.
(Views are personal)
