E-commerce players, trends, and how to crack the cases
Who the main players are in the US, Europe, India, the Gulf, and Latin America, what changed from 2024 to 2026, regulation basics, and typical case prompts.
Industry brief, with a one-minute summary: E-commerce and quick commerceFirm processes and online tests change from year to year and differ by office. Use this to prepare, and confirm the exact current steps on the firm's own careers page.
Key takeaways
- E-commerce winners are the players with enough density and repeat orders to make each delivery cheap.
- Common traps in e-commerce cases: Treating GMV as revenue.
- India's quick commerce moved from pure growth toward profit.
- The Gulf became a second quick commerce hub. Delivery platforms such as talabat run grocery dark stores, and Amazon brought 15-minute delivery to the UAE in October 2025.
- Western Europe and the US shrank the model. After the 2021 boom, several ultra-fast players closed or exited markets, including Getir in 2024.
Key idea
E-commerce winners are the players with enough density and repeat orders to make each delivery cheap. The model that works in dense Indian and Gulf cities may fail in spread-out cities with high labour costs.
| Region | Examples | Sourced facts |
|---|---|---|
| US | Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, DoorDash, Gopuff | Third-party sellers account for around 60 percent of Amazon units in recent years (Marketplace Pulse, from Amazon reports) |
| Europe | Amazon, Zalando, Allegro, Flink, supermarket chains' own delivery | Getir announced in April 2024 that it would leave the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US to focus on Türkiye |
| India | Flipkart, Amazon India; quick commerce: Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto | Blinkit reported 2,243 dark stores and a positive adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter in a row in the quarter to March 2026 |
| Gulf | Noon, Amazon.ae, talabat mart, Noon Minutes, Careem Quik, Amazon Now | Amazon launched a 15-minute delivery service, Amazon Now, in the UAE in October 2025, competing with Noon and Careem |
| Latin America | Mercado Libre, Amazon, local grocers | Mercado Libre reported net revenue up 39 percent to about USD 28.9 billion in 2025 |
So-what
Quick commerce grew fastest where cities are dense and delivery labour is affordable.
Trends from 2024 to 2026 (checked September 2026)
- India's quick commerce moved from pure growth toward profit. Blinkit reported net order value up about 95 percent year on year in the quarter to March 2026 and a small positive adjusted EBITDA (INR 37 crore, about 0.26 percent of order value). Margins remain very thin.
- The Gulf became a second quick commerce hub. Delivery platforms such as talabat run grocery dark stores, and Amazon brought 15-minute delivery to the UAE in October 2025. Note: from 28 February 2026, a regional conflict closed airspace and disrupted travel across the Gulf, and in August 2026 the big full-service Gulf airlines were still flying about 20 to 25 percent less capacity than in 2025; check current demand data before using older numbers.
- Western Europe and the US shrank the model. After the 2021 boom, several ultra-fast players closed or exited markets, including Getir in 2024. Higher labour costs and lower density make each order more expensive.
- Cheap cross-border sellers face duties. The US suspended duty-free entry for low-value parcels on 29 August 2025, and in November 2025 EU governments agreed to end the EU's EUR 150 customs duty exemption in 2026. This raises landed costs for ultra-low-price platforms that ship single parcels from abroad.
Consumer law sets return rights; in the EU, shoppers can usually cancel an online purchase within 14 days. Competition law watches large platforms that also sell their own products, and the EU Digital Markets Act places extra duties on the largest ones. Some countries limit foreign-owned e-commerce: India, for example, allows foreign investment in marketplaces but not in the inventory model that sells directly to consumers. Customs and tax rules for cross-border parcels changed in 2025 and 2026. Some European cities have used zoning rules to limit dark stores in residential streets. Gig-worker rules affect rider costs in many markets.
Typical case prompts and how to crack them
| Prompt | Case type | Structure hint | First driver to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| A quick commerce app in Riyadh wants 50 more dark stores | Market expansion | Demand by district, store economics, competition, funding | Orders per store per day against break-even orders |
| An online fashion retailer in Europe is losing money | Profitability | Contribution per order: margin, shipping, returns, marketing | Return rate by category and customer |
| Should our marketplace raise its commission by 2 points? | Pricing | Extra revenue now against sellers leaving and prices rising | How many sellers can switch to other channels |
| A supermarket chain in India asks whether to launch 15-minute delivery | Competitive response | Threat to store sales, economics of own delivery, partnering | Share of its basket already lost to quick commerce apps |
| A retailer wants to grow online sales from 5 to 20 percent | Revenue growth and growth strategy | Traffic, conversion, basket, repeat; fulfilment capacity | Customer acquisition cost against lifetime value |
So-what
Almost every e-commerce case turns on contribution per order and on volume per site.
The Unit economics and subscription businesses case-type module works through a full quick commerce case. Pricing covers commission changes. Capacity, supply chain, and footprint covers warehouse and dark store networks. Market entry and Market expansion cover new cities.
Treating GMV as revenue. Judging a young network on the average of all its stores, when new stores lose money while mature ones profit. Ignoring returns and failed deliveries. Forgetting that discounts are a cost per order. Assuming that a model that works in Bengaluru or Dubai will work in Berlin or Dallas without checking density and labour cost.
Why did ultra-fast grocery delivery struggle more in Western Europe than in Indian cities?
A marketplace wants to raise its commission. What is the main risk to test first?
A quick commerce network is losing money overall, but its oldest stores are profitable. What is the best first question?
Sources for this lesson (10)
- Marketplace Pulse: Amazon percent of units sold by third-party sellers
- Eternal Q4 FY26 results (Blinkit), reported by Indian Startup News (2026)
- Inc42: Blinkit adjusted EBITDA rises to INR 37 crore in Q4 FY26, from INR 4 crore in Q3 FY26 (2026)
- Gulf Business: talabat posts 2025 results (2026)
- CNBC: Getir to exit US, Europe and UK (April 2024)
- CNBC: Amazon launches 15-minute delivery in the UAE (October 2025)
- Mexico Business News: Mercado Libre 2025 results (2026)
- US Customs and Border Protection: end of the de minimis exemption (August 2025)
- European Commission: EUR 150 customs duty exemption to be removed (November 2025)
- Gulf News: Gulf aviation six months into the conflict, capacity and Dubai hotel occupancy (August 2026)
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