Retail media shifts: How quick commerce is disrupting traditional digital advertising

There’s an oft-repeated story in the corridors of Indian FMCG. Apparently, beverage giant Coca-Cola was one of the few companies that was not quite happy with how online markeplaces, Amazon and Flipkart, were driving sales of its soft drink brands in India. ‘Unlike in the US, the Indian customer did not buy crate loads of Coke’ was the company’s frequent refrain.

“Indians don’t stock up Coke, they just want to have it with a quick meal or a snack. So, Coca-Cola realised that they had to be at an arm’s length of the consumer, frequently,” says a former senior executive of WPP Group, which was handling Coca-Cola’s media buying mandate at the time.

Enter quick commerce with its 10-minute deliveries and a solution to Coca-Cola’s problems. “Coke, in fact, was one of the earliest and biggest advocates of quick commerce in India, and even picked up small stakes in one or two of these platforms,” the above quoted executive tells The CapTable.

Initially, Coca-Cola’s online advertisements were predominantly directed towards food delivery apps due to higher consumption rates. However, they have gradually redirected those spends towards quick commerce, and with commendable results.

In 2024, Blinkit alone tallied an impressive 18.5 million orders for Coke cans. When you factor in another 8.4 million orders for Thums-Up cans and 1.4 million for Maaza bottles, it’s clear that Coca-Cola’s online inventory is being liquidated rapidly, thanks to the surge in quick commerce in India. “They are hyper aggressive during IPL days, for which they have even created combos with chips and other snack brands on these platforms,” adds the person.

Furthermore, there’s the enticing 20-rupee PET bottle, often promoted at checkout on quick commerce platforms for impulse buyers. Interestingly, it’s Coca-Cola covering this cost for visibility at the crucial ‘point of purchase’—an increasingly coveted territory in digital advertising.

This is just one example of a traditional FMCG player adapting to the evolving landscape of India’s online commerce ecosystem, now predominantly shaped by the trio of quick commerce players—Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart.