By Varun Mahajan, FounderPublished Part of the brand playbooks guideMore on quick commerce4 min read
Key takeaways
- Bain & Company says more than two-thirds of e-grocery orders in India went through quick commerce in 2024.
- A share of orders says shoppers use the channel. It cannot say whether your pack was in stock, fairly priced or easy to find.
- Track availability, discount depth, search position and price per hundred grams for the same products at the same pin codes.
- Shelf readings do not show sales or repeat purchase. Judge a trial on the readings and the app's sell-through together.
This post is the timely take. The evergreen how-to is the guide What a good out-of-stock, price or rank alert proves, which covers the topic in full.
Why do coffee and tea brands test on quick commerce?
Because quick commerce now takes most of India's online grocery orders. Bain & Company's How India Shops Online 2025, published on 26 March 2025, says that in 2024 more than two-thirds of e-grocery orders in India were placed on quick-commerce apps, which also took one-tenth of e-retail spend.
Drinks point the same way. Redseer reported on 8 August 2024 that online sales of ready-to-drink beverages grew 52 per cent year on year in April to June 2024, and that Redseer put quick commerce at about 57 per cent of that online value. Ready-to-drink is a wider basket than ground coffee or tea leaves, so treat it as a sign of where shoppers buy and size your own category separately.
What can a market figure not tell a coffee or tea brand?
Where your own product stood on the shelf. A share of orders says shoppers use the channel. It says nothing about whether your pack was in stock at the dark store serving a given address, what it cost beside the brand next to it, or whether a shopper who searched for green tea saw it on the first screen.
Those are the things a trial can change, and the things a brand can act on with its account team.
What should a coffee or tea brand measure during a trial?
Four readings, for the same products at the same pin codes, on a fixed schedule. The guide to out-of-stock, price and rank alerts covers what each reading can prove.
- Availability: whether each pack shows as in stock at each pin code, and how long a gap lasts when it does not. A gap that recurs in one area is a supply question for the account team.
- Discount depth: the selling price against the MRP, read over weeks, so a launch price can be told apart from a lasting one, and you can see how often rivals run offers.
- Search position: where the product appears for the words a shopper types, such as instant coffee, filter coffee or green tea, at each pin code.
- Price per hundred grams against the packs beside yours. Our post on why a per-gram coffee comparison misleads covers the traps.
Which pin codes should a trial cover?
Start with the areas where the app has listed you, and add a few where it has not, so you can tell a listing gap from a stock gap. Keep the list fixed for the length of the trial. A series only compares like with like when it reads the same places each time.
Each address is served by one dark store, which is why the same city can show a product in one street and not the next. Our post on what a dark store is explains why.
What can shelf readings not tell you about a trial?
Sales, repeat purchase and fill rate. A reading shows what a shopper could see and pay at one pin code at one moment. It cannot show how many units sold or who funded a discount. Put the readings beside the sell-through figures the app's account team shares, and judge the trial on both.
Rewalto records availability, selling price, MRP and search position for the products you choose, by pin code and time, with the retailer's page address behind each reading.
Quick answers
Does a listing on a quick-commerce app mean the product is on sale across a city?
No. Each dark store holds its own stock, so a product listed in the app can be missing at the store that serves one address. Read availability by pin code.
Are ready-to-drink sales a guide to ground coffee or tea?
Loosely. Redseer's figures cover ready-to-drink beverages sold online, a different basket from ground coffee and tea leaves. Use them as a sign of where shoppers buy, and size your own category from your own data.
Which pin codes should a coffee or tea trial cover?
Start with the areas where the app has listed you and add a few where it has not, so a listing gap can be told apart from a stock gap. Keep the list fixed for the length of the trial.
Sources
- Bain & Company: How India Shops Online 2025, published . Quick commerce's share of e-grocery orders and of e-retail spend in 2024.
- Redseer Strategy Consultants: How q-commerce is redefining refreshment in the ready-to-drink beverage market, published . Online ready-to-drink growth in April to June 2024 and quick commerce's share of that online value.