The news: Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart both announced expansions of their quick commerce operations in India on Wednesday.

• Amazon plans to expand its Amazon Now service to more than 300 cities and towns, up from roughly 15 locations.
• Flipkart said its Minutes quick commerce service, which already operates a network of 1,000 micro-fulfillment centers, will add 500 more by year-end.

Zooming in: While both companies are moving aggressively, they are competing in a market where domestic players hold a commanding lead in a sector worth roughly $11 billion.

• Blinkit operates 2,243 micro-fulfillment centers and processes about 3 million orders per day, while Swiggy Instamart runs more than 1,100 locations and handles 1.25 million daily orders, per Datum Intelligence cited in TechCrunch.
• By comparison, Flipkart processes around 820,000 daily orders, and Amazon Now handles about 470,000.

India now has more than 5,500 quick commerce dark stores, a figure Bernstein expects to reach 7,500 by 2030. If Flipkart reaches 1,500 centers, Jefferies estimates it would rank second by store count, behind only Blinkit.

Why is this happening? The growth opportunity is hard to ignore. We expect India’s ecommerce market to expand 15.5% this year and maintain growth above 9.5% annually through 2030.