After delivering groceries, daily essentials, medicines, and smartphones in ten minutes, quick commerce platforms like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart are now adding laptops to their offerings.
Over the last month, several of the largest personal computer (PC) makers in India—including HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Asus—have listed their products on at least one of the major quick commerce platforms.
Market leader HP recently announced a partnership with Blinkit to sell laptops, monitors, printers, and other accessories on the platform.
“The initial response has been promising…We are also gradually diversifying our presence by introducing laptops on quick commerce platforms, adopting a phased approach to better understand consumer behaviour and preferences,” Vineet Gehani, Senior Director, Personal Systems, HP India, told Moneycontrol.
Similarly, Acer has listed a limited range of its offerings, including laptops, on platforms like Flipkart Minutes and Zepto in select locations. It is also in “active talks” with Blinkit and others to bring a complete range of Acer products – including laptops, monitors, tablets and accessories – to quick commerce.
“We are confident of this channel for long-term growth. Quick commerce players are actively solving challenges related to inventory management and last-mile delivery for high valued Items like laptops, tablets, and other electronic items,” said Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer Acer India.
Laptops are the latest development in the ongoing strategy of quick commerce firms to deliver big-ticket products. Electronic gadgets like smartphones and laptops drive up average order values (AOVs), which in turn fuels margin improvements for quick commerce platforms. In fact, Blinkit, on January 22, announced a partnership with Xiaomi and Nokia to expand its smartphone category beyond iPhones.
Testing the waters
While firms like HP and Acer have started selling laptops, other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are testing the waters by listing accessories like keyboards, mice, and printers, to gauge initial demand.
Taiwanese PC manufacturer Asus, for instance, announced a partnership with Zepto last week to list a range of accessories, including keyboards and mice, on the platform, made available in major cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.
“We also plan to expand its presence on other quick commerce platforms such as Blinkit and Instamart further broadening our reach and ensuring greater accessibility for consumers across India,” said Arnold Su, Vice President, Consumer and Gaming PC, System Business Group, Asus.
Lenovo, India’s second-largest PC marker, is adopting a similar approach of listing smaller tech accessories. It is, however, seeing sales gradually pick up for larger ticket items. Its products are currently available on Blinkit.
“Currently, on Zepto, our Lenovo Tab M11 is the most purchased tablet and we’re optimistic about scaling this channel further to enhance accessibility and convenience for our customers,” said Dinesh Nair, Director of Consumer Business, Lenovo India.
New growth channel
India’s traditional PC market (inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations) shipped an all-time high of 4.49 million units in the third quarter of calendar year 2024, up 0.1 percent year-over-year (YoY), amid the festival season last year, according to a report by the International Data Corporation (IDC).
HP led the market with a share of 29 percent, followed by Lenovo and Dell Technologies with a market share of 17.3 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively. The Acer Group occupied the fourth spot at 14.6 percent again, with Asus rounding out the top five at 9.7 percent, the report showed.
As the country’s PC market continues to grow, India's $5.5 billion quick commerce market is emerging as the next phase of online growth for many PC manufacturers.
“We believe quick commerce is the future of e-commerce and offers us a new avenue to expand our reach and serve more customers,” said Su.
According to the Asus executive, traditional e-commerce platforms like Flipkart and Amazon have not been able to meet the growing need for faster deliveries, and quick commerce has emerged as a channel that can complement existing online platforms.
“While some may perceive quick commerce as a threat to established online players, we view it as an opportunity to reach a niche customer base in need of products beyond just daily groceries or FMCG items,” he said.
For other OEMs, it is still early days and quick commerce is currently just another channel that they want to expand their presence to.
“As a brand, our focus remains on serving our customers across all platforms—whether it’s through offline retail stores, online and e-commerce channels, or emerging quick commerce solutions. By embracing innovative distribution models, we are ensuring that our customers can access HP products wherever and whenever they need them,” said HP’s Gehani.
Early days for laptops on quick commerce
Whether laptops take off in a big way via quick commerce remains to be seen. Analysts tracking the sector expect the category to make up a small share of quick commerce sales for the foreseeable future.
“It will require considerable effort to scale the laptop and PC category on quick commerce. Sales in this category are expected to remain between 2-3 percent in the medium term,” said an internet sector analyst.
Regardless, PC makers are of the view that quick commerce players with strong execution will be able to drive sales, as demand for high-value electronics on quick commerce continues to rise.
“This depends on how quick commerce players are going to solve the need for a larger selection for buyers along with the convenience of delivery in 10-30 minutes,” said Goel.
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