loading
loading
Amazon’s quick commerce and grocery retail arm, Amazon Retail, which operates Amazon Now and Amazon Fresh, saw strong growth in revenue during FY26. However, the company’s losses widened sharply as expenses grew much faster than its business. Amazon Retail’s revenue from operations jumped nearly 50% year-on-year to Rs 3,065 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 2,051 crore in FY25, according to its standalone financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The company’s revenue primarily comes from the sale of goods through Amazon Now and Amazon Fresh, which remain its sole source of operating revenue. It also earned Rs 15 crore as other income, taking its total revenue to Rs 3,080 crore in FY26. While the company managed to grow its top line, its cost structure remained heavy. The procurement of materials accounted for around 68% of Amazon Retail’s total expenses, which jumped nearly 65% to Rs 2,887 crore in FY26. This left the company with a gross margin of only around 5.08%. Apart from procurement, the company spent Rs 529 crore on delivery charges during the fiscal year, while platform fees stood at Rs 248 crore. Legal expenses also remained significant at Rs 442 crore during FY26. Overall, Amazon Retail’s total expenses surged 71.8% to Rs 4,239 crore in FY26 from Rs 2,468 crore in the previous fiscal year. This growth in expenses was considerably faster than its revenue growth. As a result, the company’s net loss widened more than 3X to Rs 1,158 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 394 crore in FY25. On a unit economics basis, the company spent around Rs 1.38 to earn every rupee of revenue during the fiscal year. The company’s operating performance also remained under pressure. Its EBITDA stood at negative Rs 1,136 crore, while its EBITDA margin and ROCE deteriorated to -37.06% and -235.22% in FY26. The heavy losses come at a time when Amazon is stepping up investments in India’s quick commerce market, which has seen intense competition from Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto. According to a Reuters report, Amazon plans to invest $3 billion in India’s quick commerce business by 2030, marking its biggest bet yet on the segment. Of this, around $1 billion is expected to be invested by the end of 2027, followed by another $2 billion through 2030. According to the company, Amazon’s quick commerce business has already crossed $1 billion in annualised gross sales over the past three months. Amazon described it as the fastest-growing e-commerce business in its India operations. According to the report, Blinkit, Swiggy and Zepto together account for 77% of the quick commerce market, while Amazon has a 6.2% share. Amazon currently has around 750 quick commerce stores and is targeting roughly 1,300 stores by April next year. Amazon’s quick commerce push highlights the capital intensity of competing in a market shaped by Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto. For Amazon, the challenge is not merely building a larger fulfilment network, but reaching sufficient order density and improving margins across that network. The gap between revenue growth and expense growth suggests scale has yet to translate into operating leverage. Its ability to convert Amazon’s existing customer base into frequent quick commerce users will be critical to making the model economically viable.
document fetched 2026-09-25 02:59