Competition intensifies among B2B platforms, focusing more on speedy service rather than just cost reduction
In the rapidly evolving landscape of India's B2B ecommerce market, a significant trend is emerging: ultra-fast delivery and real-time inventory management. This shift, driven by evolving buyer expectations for quick and reliable supply chains, is transforming the way companies operate.
Companies like Moglix, Udaan, and Flipkart Wholesale are at the forefront of this change, adopting faster delivery models to gain a competitive edge.
Moglix, the brainchild of CEO and Founder Rahul Garg, has shown a potential interest in micro-fulfilment models in critical clusters. The company, which already relies on hyperlocal stocking of over 1 lakh SKUs, a network of 45+ fulfilment centres, and dynamic route optimisation to minimise lead times, is focusing on streamlining industrial supplies’ fulfillment through technology and logistics. While specifics on their speed targets remain limited, the company's emphasis on improving supply chain visibility and predictive inventory management points towards a commitment to faster delivery.
Udaan, known for its strong B2B network connecting manufacturers and retailers, leverages advanced logistics and regional warehouses to offer faster replenishment cycles. This strategy caters to retailer urgency, reduces stockouts, and improves buyer satisfaction and retention.
Flipkart Wholesale enhances its competitive advantage through integration with Flipkart’s vast logistics infrastructure, enabling rapid regional fulfilment to wholesale buyers. They utilise hyperlocal warehouses and tech-driven distribution to cut delivery times drastically.
An example of this broader industry trend is Myntra M-Now, which delivers B2B fashion items in under 30 minutes, utilising AI logistics, regional fulfilment centres, and real-time inventory restocking. This hyperlocal, on-demand fulfilment model highlights how speed is becoming pivotal in India’s B2B ecommerce markets, especially for inventory-sensitive segments like fashion.
With 41% of B2B buyers expecting next-day delivery and 24% demanding orders in under two hours, companies are under pressure to enhance fulfilment speed and reliability. Faster delivery acts as a primary differentiator, driving customers to platforms capable of meeting these stringent expectations and ensuring timely order fulfillment and tracking, which remains a big challenge for 66% of B2B ecommerce businesses.
These developments reflect a strategic imperative in India’s B2B ecommerce space to transform supply chains with speed, visibility, and flexibility to win in an increasingly demanding market. Faster delivery enables better inventory planning and working capital cycles for buyers, allowing businesses to run leaner operations, particularly in high-replenishment categories like FMCG and staples.
Platforms like Moglix, Udaan, and Flipkart Wholesale are investing heavily in fulfilment capabilities to cater to the growing expectations of kiranas, HoReCa businesses, and MSMEs. Fulfilment speed is becoming a long-term competitive advantage in the B2B ecommerce market.
Rahul Garg from Moglix stated that the value created by faster fulfilment outweighs marginal cost increases, especially in underserved industrial hubs where reliability was lacking. Companies are experiencing a 1-2% increase in logistics costs due to faster fulfilment, which is being managed through centralised procurement, tech-enabled orchestration, and low RTO rates.
Faster fulfilment is seen as a strategic lever to drive loyalty, improve cash cycles, and differentiate in a highly commoditised market. A 100 per cent prepaid model has helped bring return-to-origin rates under 5 per cent for Moglix. Same-day and next-day deliveries are redefining the B2B ecommerce playbook.
Udaan started next-day delivery in 2018, which they claim was a customer-centric innovation. As we look to the future, a strong demand case and favourable economics would be necessary for the implementation of micro-fulfilment models. These platforms are overhauling their supply chains to enable next-day and same-day deliveries. The next frontier in B2B ecommerce could be sub-hour or hyperlocal delivery.
The B2B ecommerce market in India is projected to reach $200 billion by 2030, making it an exciting space to watch as these trends continue to unfold.
[1] India B2B Ecommerce Market Report [2] Myntra M-Now: The Future of B2B Fashion Delivery [3] B2B Ecommerce Buyer Behaviour in India
- The focus on faster delivery in India's B2B ecommerce market extends to subscription-based services as well, with companies like Moglix, Udaan, and Flipkart Wholesale aiming to offer live updates and predictive inventory management to subscribers, further enhancing business operations and buyer satisfaction.
- As the B2B ecommerce market in India rapidly evolves, the possibility of experiencing real-time technology-driven business interactions, including sub-hour or hyperlocal delivery, may become a common expectation, transforming the landscape of business transactions and reshaping the industry.
