Quick-Commerce Fashion in India 2026: How Big It Really Is, What Sells, and What It Means for Brands

India’s 10-minute apps have started selling clothes, and the growth rate makes for a striking headline: fashion is now the fastest-growing category on quick commerce, up about 340 per cent in a year. The base, though, is tiny. Quick commerce already handles about 70 per cent of India’s online grocery, but only about 1 per cent of its online apparel, footwear and accessories. This report puts together the company filings, shareholder letters and consulting data to answer the questions a brand or a curious shopper would ask: how big quick-commerce fashion really is, who sells it, what people buy, what they spend, where the orders come from, what happens to returns, and whether shoppers want it at all.

1. The short answer: fast growth, tiny base

Two numbers frame everything else in this report, and both come from the leading consultancies that track Indian e-commerce.

The first is growth. In January 2026, according to Redseer’s tracking data, fashion sold through quick commerce grew about 340 per cent year on year, faster than mobiles (about 245 per cent), beauty and personal care (about 140 per cent) or anything else on the apps. Non-grocery as a whole grew about 1.6 times faster than grocery.^[4]

The second is size. Bain’s How India Shops Online 2026 estimates the share of each online category that flows through quick commerce. For grocery it is about 70 per cent. For what Bain calls lifestyle — apparel, footwear and accessories — it is about 1 per cent.^[1] Redseer, separately, says quick commerce holds less than 5 per cent of online fashion, mobiles and electronics combined.^[3]

Put a rupee figure on it and the scale becomes clear. The Redseer industry report filed with Zepto’s draft prospectus sizes India’s online fashion market at US$21-24 billion in 2025, inside a total fashion market of US$100-110 billion.^[9] One per cent of the online figure is roughly US$0.2-0.24 billion, or about 0.2 per cent of all fashion spending. That multiplication is this report’s, using two firms’ numbers that define fashion the same way; neither firm publishes it. It is best read as an order of magnitude. Quick-commerce fashion is growing faster than anything else on the apps, but from almost nothing.

2. How big quick commerce has become

Fashion arrived on a channel that had already grown very large. Bain puts quick-commerce gross merchandise value at about US$2.5 billion in 2023, US$4.8-5 billion in 2024 and US$10-11 billion in 2025, doubling each year, and equal to 16-17 per cent of all Indian e-retail.^[1] Redseer’s fiscal-year figure is similar: US$13-14 billion in FY26, or about 17 per cent of online retail, growing about 120 per cent.^[3] A Goldman Sachs estimate reported by the Economic Times, using a different definition, gives quick commerce 11 per cent of e-commerce GMV in 2025, up from 3 per cent in 2019.^[23] The spread comes from differences in definition. Every source agrees on the direction.

The user base has grown with it. Redseer counts about 60 million monthly transacting users in the first half of 2026, up from 8 million three years earlier, and about US$9 billion of GMV in those six months alone.^[5][6] Bain describes the core shopper as affluent: 35-40 million monthly users in 2025, mainly from upper and upper-middle income households, ordering about 3.5 times a month.^[1]

The projections are larger again. Bain expects quick commerce to reach US$65-70 billion by 2030 and to account for 45-50 per cent of all incremental e-retail GMV over the period.^[1] Redseer projects the channel at 25-30 per cent of online retail by FY30.^[3] For festive 2026 it expects quick commerce to grow 110-120 per cent, against 16-18 per cent for the rest of e-commerce, and to take nearly a fifth of festive online spending.^[5][6] These are projections by the named firms, not measurements.

3. Non-grocery is the growth engine, and fashion leads it

The main change in quick commerce over the last two years is its category mix. The Redseer report in Zepto’s June 2026 prospectus puts non-grocery at under 5 per cent of quick-commerce GMV in 2022, about 23 per cent in 2024 and about 29 per cent in 2025, and projects 39-44 per cent by 2030, with non-grocery compounding at 48-62 per cent a year against 33-45 per cent for grocery.^[9] Bain’s 2025 edition had already noted that 15-20 per cent of quick-commerce GMV came from general merchandise, mobiles, electronics and apparel.^[2]

The listed companies show the same shift. Swiggy told shareholders that non-grocery reached 26.2 per cent of Instamart’s gross order value in July-September 2025, up from 8.7 per cent a year earlier, driven by electronics, small appliances, home and kitchen, and toys.^[12] Industry executives quoted by the Economic Times put higher-margin categories — electronics, fashion, beauty, home — at 20-25 per cent of quick-commerce gross sales by late 2025, against less than 10 per cent two years earlier.^[20]

Within that non-grocery push, fashion is the fastest mover but not yet the biggest. Swiggy’s own list of growth drivers does not name apparel. Bain classes quick commerce for discretionary categories as a “fulfilment channel” where speed is a pleasant extra, as opposed to a “convenience channel” for essentials where speed is expected. It puts discretionary at 10-15 per cent of quick-commerce GMV in 2025, projected to grow 45-50 per cent a year to 2030 against 40-45 per cent for essentials.^[1]

4. Who delivers clothes in 30 minutes

Three kinds of business now sell clothing on sub-hour or same-day promises, and they carry very different ranges.

The grocery-first platforms

Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart and Flipkart Minutes run the biggest networks. In April-June 2026 Blinkit reported net order value of ₹17,132 crore, up 86 per cent, from 2,443 stores; it operates about 19 million square feet of store and warehouse space across 300+ cities.^[10] Instamart reported gross order value of ₹7,907 crore from 1,171 dark stores in 131 cities.^[11] Zepto’s prospectus shows 1,139 dark stores across 66 cities at March 2026, up from 337 across 11 two years earlier.^[9] Flipkart Minutes says it has grown four times in a year to about 1,200 micro-fulfilment centres in 150+ cities.^[13] None of the four discloses a fashion figure. Blinkit and Zepto began listing apparel in early 2024 with brands such as Adidas, Pepe Jeans, Jockey, Manyavar and XYXX.^[22]

The fashion platforms’ own fast lanes

Myntra launched M-Now at the end of 2024 with 10,000 styles. By May 2026 it carried over 1 lakh styles from more than 1,000 brands across 10 cities and 940+ pin codes, delivering from 30 minutes.^[17] Myntra has added cities steadily — Delhi-NCR and Mumbai in June 2025 with 40+ dark stores, Kolkata in September 2025 with 80+ dark stores across five metros, then Patna, Jaipur, Lucknow and Ahmedabad in February 2026, taking it to 10 cities.^[14][15][33] By November 2025, M-Now accounted for about 10 per cent of Myntra orders in the locations where it was live.^[18] For comparison, Myntra says nearly half of all its orders are already delivered in under 48 hours through its M-Express service.^[14]

Amazon says orders on Amazon Now have doubled every quarter since launch and plans to take it to 300 cities, positioning it as a “second lane” for urgent fashion rather than a replacement for browsing.^[24] Reliance runs a slower version: Ajio Rush reached 600+ cities with a four-hour promise by March 2026, and Reliance says 1,700+ of its fashion and lifestyle stores now run on a two-hour delivery promise.^[25]

The quick-fashion start-ups

A group of venture-backed start-ups — Slikk in Bengaluru, KNOT and Zilo in Mumbai, Zulu Club in Gurugram — sell curated fashion with 60-minute delivery.^[28][19] D2C brands have joined them: Snitch launched a 60-minute pilot in Bengaluru in October 2025, fulfilled from its own stores, and Newme runs a 30-minute service called Zip.^[32][18] Slikk, the largest by reported scale, works with about 700 brands and says it is targeting ₹90-100 crore of monthly GMV from Bengaluru by next March.^[27][26]

5. What people actually buy

Each type of platform sells different clothing. On the grocery-first apps the range is narrow. The Redseer report in Zepto’s prospectus says platforms “typically focus on essential items like undergarments, basic t-shirts, and socks, which are more likely to be needed urgently.”^[9] ET’s 2024 reporting found the same: undergarments, t-shirts, socks, kurtas and flip-flops.^[31]

The fashion platforms sell a wider range, and their data shows that quick-commerce fashion is mostly driven by occasions. Myntra lists dresses, jeans, kurta sets and t-shirts among M-Now’s most-demanded products. It reports that orders rose 4.5 times on Valentine’s Day, with five times as many new customers, and that apparel demand rose 3.5 times on Mother’s Day, both compared with ordinary days.^[14] Around Raksha Bandhan, gifting categories rose three times and accessories five times.^[15] In Kolkata, M-Now’s launch-phase demand before Durga Puja came from ethnic wear, occasion wear and home.^[15] In Patna, Myntra stocks women’s western and Indian wear, men’s casual wear, innerwear and loungewear, beauty, footwear and accessories.^[16]

Amazon describes the same pattern with sport: demand for cricket jerseys rose 2.5 times ahead of T20 World Cup match days and up to eight times on the days themselves.^[24] Flipkart Minutes says Gen Z drives over 45 per cent of orders in several non-grocery categories.^[13] What these platforms report is urgent, occasion-led buying — gifts, outfits for an event, a missing basic — not the everyday wardrobe shop.

6. Order values and discounts

Quick commerce runs on small baskets. Redseer put the industry average order value at about ₹460 in January 2026, after MRP discounts and excluding delivery fees, up about 5 per cent in a year.^[4] Bain puts the average basket at about US$7.^[1] A single kurta or pair of jeans can cost more than a typical quick-commerce basket, which is why platforms want fashion in the mix.

Swiggy’s disclosures show both the upside and the cost. Instamart’s gross average order value rose from ₹612 in April-June 2025 to ₹746 in October-December 2025 as non-grocery grew, then settled at ₹691.^[11] Its net average order value, after all discounts, was ₹508, up from ₹453, “led by sustained non-grocery selection mix.”^[11] The gap between the two figures reflects discounting. Swiggy notes that “discounts to MRP on non-grocery categories typically are substantially higher than grocery,” and it began reporting net order value for that reason.^[11][12]

For platforms the target is clear. Redseer finds that metro dark stores reach positive contribution margin at an average order value of ₹500 or more combined with 1,200-1,400 orders a day.^[3] Fashion raises the order value. Whether it adds enough orders to the same store is not yet shown in any public figure.

7. Where the orders come from

Quick commerce is still mainly a big-city channel. The Redseer report in Zepto’s prospectus puts non-metro cities — everything outside Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune — at about 23 per cent of quick-commerce GMV in 2025, projected to rise to 27-30 per cent by 2030.^[9] Bain counts about 7,000 micro-fulfilment centres across 200+ cities in 2025, up from about 2,200 across fewer than 70 in 2023, but about 55 per cent are in metros and about 65 per cent of new centres in 2025 opened in the top ten cities.^[1]

Smaller cities are growing faster, but their stores run below break-even. Redseer reports non-metro daily orders up 328 per cent year on year, but non-metro dark stores average about 850 orders a day against a break-even range of 1,200-1,250.^[8] An earlier Redseer analysis found orders per store falling below 1,000 beyond the top 10-15 cities and below 700 in the next 20, with break-even throughput 1.5-2 times higher than in metros because smaller baskets cover longer delivery distances.^[7]

Fashion players are moving into these cities anyway. Myntra’s February 2026 launches took M-Now to Patna, Jaipur, Lucknow and Ahmedabad.^[33][16] Flipkart Minutes reports its Tier 2+ customer base grew about 25 times in a year, naming Ambala, Siliguri and Tiruppur among its fastest-growing markets.^[13] Ajio Rush uses a four-hour promise, which needs far less store density than 30 minutes, to reach 600+ cities.^[25]

8. Returns: the unsolved problem

Returns are fashion’s biggest cost online, and quick commerce was not designed for them. Industry estimates cited by the Economic Times put returns at 25-30 per cent of online fashion orders, mostly for size and fit.^[21] Third Eyesight’s Devangshu Dutta told ET that fashion return rates range from under 10 per cent to as high as 40 per cent depending on the item.^[19]

The platforms have built return systems to match their delivery speed. Blinkit introduced 10-minute returns and exchanges for size or fit problems on clothing and footwear in October 2024, first in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune.^[21] Zepto offers a three-day return window on eligible fashion items.^[17] The start-ups use try-and-buy: the rider waits while the customer tries the item on.^[19]

The claims that faster delivery reduces returns come from the companies themselves. KNOT says its partner brands see about 20 per cent returns on their own websites against under 1 per cent in their stores, and it uses try-and-buy to capture some of that difference. Slikk claims a return rate 40-50 per cent below traditional marketplaces. Myntra says quick delivery “attracts high-intent customers, leading to naturally lower return rates.” Investors estimate that try-and-buy and virtual try-on reduce returns by 15-20 percentage points.^[19] None of these figures is audited, and no platform publishes a return rate for quick-commerce fashion. Try-and-buy also has a cost: the rider’s waiting time means fewer deliveries per shift.^[19]

9. Do shoppers want clothes in 10 minutes?

The survey evidence is mixed. In a LocalCircles study of how Indian households buy clothes, with over 35,000 responses, only 4 per cent bought clothes exclusively online, 47 per cent mainly in stores, 40 per cent through both, and 9 per cent from a local tailor. Among households preferring stores, 81 per cent cited the chance to touch, feel and try, and 28 per cent cited getting something instantly. The second group is the market quick commerce is aimed at.^[30] Among households preferring to buy online, 29 per cent cited ease of exchange and return.^[30]

Speed itself has become a policy question. By January 2026, after gig-worker strikes in late December and government discussions, Blinkit had dropped its 10-minute tagline. A LocalCircles survey of more than 90,000 quick-commerce users in 180 districts found that 74 per cent supported removing the 10-minute timeline and 38 per cent wanted nothing delivered that fast. Among those who still wanted 10-minute delivery, only 25 per cent named discretionary items; all of them named medicines.^[29] That fits the fashion platforms’ own positioning — 30 minutes, 60 minutes, four hours — rather than ten.

10. The economics: burn, funding and shutdowns

Investors have put money into the segment, but the losses are large. Entrackr reported the 2025 funding round: Slikk raised US$10 million, Zilo US$4.5 million, KNOT US$3 million and Zulu Club US$250,000, while fashion start-ups overall raised US$148 million in the first half of 2025, more than in all of 2024. Blip, one of the first quick-fashion start-ups, shut down the same month, citing capital constraints.^[28] Zilo raised a further US$15.3 million in February 2026, and KNOT US$5 million in December 2025.^[18]

Industry executives told ET that the rapid-fashion start-ups together burned US$2-2.5 million in January 2026, rising to about US$3 million in March, much of it on discounting.^[18] Slikk says it has grown about ten times in six to seven months, cut its burn by half and reached positive contribution margin per order. These are the company’s own figures and are unaudited.^[26]

Advertising is a significant cost for brands. Axis Capital, quoted by ET, found that D2C brands can spend up to 15 per cent of their quick-commerce sales on platform advertising, against 4-6 per cent for FMCG brands.^[20]

11. What it means for fashion brands

The data points to five practical conclusions. Each follows from the figures above; the conclusions themselves are this report’s.

Treat it as a channel for occasions and basics. The sales data from Myntra and Amazon shows spikes around Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Raksha Bandhan, Durga Puja and match days, and the grocery-first apps sell innerwear, t-shirts and socks.^{[14][15][24][9]} Considered purchases are still made by browsing and in store.^[30]

Be realistic about the size. Quick commerce carries about 1 per cent of online lifestyle sales.^[1] Very high growth rates on that base still leave the channel small for most brands.

Check the margin before listing. Non-grocery sells at deeper discounts than grocery, and advertising can cost D2C brands up to 15 per cent of sales on the platform.^[11][20]

Plan for the metros first. About three-quarters of quick-commerce value (the remainder after the ~23 per cent non-metro share) and more than half of its stores are in the metros.^[9][1] Outside them, the four-hour and same-day models of Ajio Rush and Myntra’s M-Express cover the gap.^[25][14]

Sort out returns before speed. The fashion-first platforms compete on returns as much as on delivery time: 10-minute exchanges, three-day windows and try-and-buy.^[21][17][19] A brand whose size chart is unreliable will get fast returns as well as fast deliveries.

12. Frequently Asked Questions

Related research: E-Commerce Returns and RTO in Indian Fashion 2026 · Tier-2 and Tier-3 City Fashion E-commerce 2026 · India’s Festive Retail Economy 2026