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Quick-commerce apps make money from several sources—not just the delivery charge: merchant commissions and services, brand advertising, user and delivery-partner fees, and subscriptions. But a small grocery basket can still lose money. After discounts, picking, fulfillment, delivery, and local-store costs, the revenue left from an order may not cover the work required to complete it.
Where quick-commerce revenue comes from
The mix varies by company and by whether it sells its own inventory, connects shoppers with merchants, or combines both approaches. Swiggy’s reported quick-commerce revenue categories offer a specific example, not a universal industry formula.
Merchant commissions and services
Swiggy says its quick-commerce revenue includes pre-agreed commissions from merchant partners and fees for other merchant business-enablement services. In practice, a platform may earn from participating sellers or partners, but the arrangement depends on its inventory and marketplace model. Swiggy’s Q4 FY2025 shareholder letter sets out its definition.
Customer and delivery-partner fees
Swiggy includes fees charged to users and delivery partners for using its technology platform. A customer-facing delivery charge is not necessarily money the company keeps: some delivery charges may be passed to delivery partners, and Swiggy’s adjusted-revenue calculation treats certain pass-through amounts and fees netted against platform-funded discounts differently from its revenue measure.
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Subscriptions
Memberships can bring in subscription revenue while giving customers benefits such as reduced or waived delivery fees. Swiggy reports subscription revenue net of discounts, credits, and refunds, subject to its stated treatment of free delivery. In the United States, Instacart’s 2024 shareholder letter said it lowered the minimum basket for $0 delivery fees for Instacart+ members from $35 to $10. That was a company-specific membership benefit reported at that time, not a general or necessarily current threshold. Instacart’s 2024 shareholder letter describes the change.
Brand advertising and retail media
Brands may pay to reach grocery shoppers through sponsored placements or other advertising. Swiggy lists brand advertising as a quick-commerce revenue source. Instacart describes its Carrot Ads offering, brand demand, and partnerships with retailer media networks. The products and economics differ by platform; advertising is an additional revenue stream, not proof that each order is profitable.
Why a low-cost grocery order is hard to make profitable
A low basket leaves less value to absorb the costs of completing an order. The basic sequence is:
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- Start with the order’s value. The customer selects goods and may also pay specified fees or charges.
- Account for discounts. Promotions funded by the platform or a partner reduce what the platform retains from the order.
- Pay the variable costs. Picking and fulfillment, delivery, and other variable expenses consume part of the remaining value.
- Cover local operating costs. Store labor and leases also affect the broader business, even though they are not all included in a contribution-margin calculation.
Swiggy defines quick-commerce contribution margin after delivery and other charges, platform-funded discounts, fulfillment-service costs, and other variable costs. That makes it useful for understanding order-level economics, but it is not the same as profit for the segment: fixed or semi-fixed costs may still matter. Swiggy reports adjusted EBITDA separately, with its own stated treatment of lease rent.
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Order value, revenue, and profit are different measures
Gross order value (GOV) is not revenue, and revenue is not profit. Swiggy’s definitions illustrate why the labels matter when reading company results:
- GOV includes goods value before discounts, plus specified user delivery, packaging, user-fee, and tax amounts; tips are excluded.
- NOV subtracts platform- or partner-funded discounts from GOV.
- Quick-commerce revenue includes the company’s listed commissions, advertising, platform fees, subscriptions, and merchant-service categories.
- Adjusted revenue adds specified pass-through delivery charges and user fees netted against platform-funded discounts.
- Contribution margin reflects delivery and other charges, platform-funded discounts, fulfillment costs, and other variable costs.
- Adjusted EBITDA is a separate segment measure; Swiggy states its own lease-rent treatment.
Because companies may define and present these measures differently, compare like with like: use the same metric, period, and definition rather than treating GOV or order value as sales revenue.
What reported company figures show—and what they do not
The figures below are company-specific snapshots from different periods. They show why scale, basket size, and efficiency matter, but they are not a harmonized comparison or an industry average.
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| Company and period | Reported figures | How to interpret them |
|---|---|---|
| Swiggy Limited, FY2024–25 | ₹514 average order value; 1,021 active stores in 124 cities; 4 million square feet of dark-store area; -4.0% contribution margin. | Swiggy attributed the negative contribution margin in part to upfront investment in new stores and user activation. FY2024–25 annual report. |
| Swiggy Limited, Q1 FY2026, quarter ended June 30, 2025 | 92 million quick-commerce orders; ₹612 AOV; NOV equal to 74% of GOV; ₹896 crore negative adjusted EBITDA; 11.1 million average monthly transacting users; 1,062 active dark stores. | These are figures for that quarter, not a current run rate. GOV, NOV, and adjusted EBITDA are distinct measures. Q1 FY2026 shareholder letter. |
| Swiggy quick commerce, as summarized by Naspers in 2024 | 487 active dark stores across 26 cities; more than 9,500 listed items. | Naspers’s 2024 integrated-report summary said unit economics continued to improve with larger baskets, an expanded user base, and improved operational efficiency. This is a historical investor-report summary, not a current operating count. Naspers 2024 integrated annual report. |
Swiggy’s results also show why improvement in unit economics is not the same as reaching profitability. Bigger baskets, more users, and better efficiency can spread costs or raise the value generated by each store, but the Q1 FY2026 adjusted EBITDA loss remained negative.
How bigger baskets and busier stores can help
When an order’s value rises without a proportional increase in picking and delivery costs, the platform may have more revenue to cover those costs. More users and orders can also improve utilization of local stores and operations. Swiggy’s FY2024–25 report linked some of its negative contribution margin to upfront investment in new stores and user activation, while Naspers’s 2024 summary identified larger baskets, a wider user base, and operational efficiency as unit-economics drivers.
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Those factors are not guarantees. Discounts can reduce the amount retained from a larger basket, and store expansion or customer acquisition can add costs before a market becomes more efficient. A useful assessment therefore looks at basket size and discounting alongside orders and sales per local store, contribution margin, and segment-level results.
What to check when evaluating an app’s economics
- Inventory model: Does the company sell its own stock, facilitate sales for partners, or use both models?
- Revenue sources: Does it report merchant commissions or services, advertising, user or delivery-partner fees, and subscriptions?
- Discounts and fee treatment: Which party funds discounts, and are collected delivery charges passed through or included differently in adjusted revenue?
- Store utilization: How many orders or how much sales value does each local store support? Use figures from the same period where available.
- Metric definitions: Is the reported figure GOV, NOV, revenue, contribution margin, or adjusted EBITDA?
- Reporting period: Is the number a quarter, fiscal year, or historical snapshot? Avoid treating an old count or one-time membership benefit as current.
Company disclosures are useful for understanding a company’s own model and accounting, but Swiggy and Instacart do not provide a directly comparable dataset here. Differences in definitions, business models, and reporting periods prevent a fair conclusion about which platform has stronger unit economics based on these figures alone.
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