The news: Amazon India’s ultrafast delivery service Amazon Now has crossed $1 billion in annualized gross sales based on the past three months, putting it on pace to hit that milestone over a 12-month period.

• Amazon Now orders have doubled every quarter since launch, the retailer says.
• That growth stems in part from rapid expansion, with Amazon recently bringing the service to more than 60 Indian cities and towns ahead of India’s festive season, supported by a network of more than 750 microfulfillment and urban fulfillment centers.

Why it matters beyond India: Amazon’s success in one of the world’s most competitive quick-commerce markets gives it an opportunity to refine a model that could inform its efforts in the US and Europe.

Amazon is pursuing the same broader goal through several different delivery models. In addition to Amazon Now, it is expanding Prime Air drone delivery—which can deliver orders in as little as 30 minutes—to nearly 500 US cities and towns by year-end, six times its current footprint.

Implications for retailers: Amazon has found that the faster it gets orders to customers, the more they tend to spend with the retailer. That helps explain its relentless push to speed up fulfillment through Amazon Now, Prime Air, and its 1-hour and 3-hour delivery options.

The faster Amazon (and its competitors) gets, the more it chips away at one of physical retail’s biggest advantages: immediacy. If shoppers can get an item delivered almost as quickly as they can go out and buy it, Amazon can capture more urgent and impulse purchases that traditionally went to stores. And every successful delivery gives shoppers another reason to turn to Amazon first the next time they need something quickly.

This content is part of EMARKETER’s subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports. Our Briefings prepare you to start your day informed, to provide critical insights in an important meeting, and to understand the context of what’s happening in your industry. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.