Performance Marketing in Quick-Commerce: Enhancing Visibility and Conversions

The instant delivery of everyday essentials – ultra-fast quick commerce in many cases within 30 minutes – has taken off in the last few years. Quick-commerce apps in India, for instance, now have more than two-thirds of e-grocery orders, a sign of fast consumer take-up. Performance marketing here – in which advertisers pay solely for definite actions (clicks, app downloads, sales) – is crucial for standing out.

With closely targeted ads and measuring outcomes, quick-commerce brands are able to increase both brand visibility and conversions. This report examines performance-marketing strategies specifically adapted for quick commerce, the position of Google Ads channels (Search, Display, Shopping, YouTube), key KPIs, real-world success stories, and marketers' and investors' challenges and best practices.

Performance Marketing Strategies in Quick Commerce

Quick-commerce marketing requires hyper-local, time-sensitive tactics. Key strategies include:

• Localized (Hyperlocal) Targeting: Ads are targeted at the city- or pin-code level to reach nearby consumers. Brands use geo-fencing and localized content (regional language, local product selection to render promotions relevant. For example, Zepto makes promotions city- and pin-code based advertising on Google and Meta, and displaying local delivery guarantees in adverts. Targeting based on data let's quick-commerce sites "execute hyperlocal campaigns for flash sales in a particular area", which has the potential to greatly enhance interaction and conversions by satisfying local tastes.

• Real-Time Offers & Flash Promotions: Quick commerce thrives on immediacy and impulse. Performance campaigns often highlight limited-time deals (e.g. “10–20 minute flash sale”) and employ push notifications or in-app banners for urgency. Swiggy’s Instamart, for example, uses push notifications and sponsored listings in its app to deliver real-time promotions and discounts . Similarly, first-order freebies (free delivery or extra discount) are common tactics to convert new users quickly, complementing paid ads. Dynamic creative (e.g. ads that show real-time stock and delivery times) can further boost relevance; one creative tool highlights local delivery times and current price/stock, amplifying urgency.

• Mobile-First, App-Centric Campaigns: Fast commerce is highly mobile-app led. Ad formats and landing pages need to be optimized for smartphone. This includes employing vertical videos, inapp ads, and optimizing the conversion flow (e.g. simplified mobile checkout, click-to-call/shop). Research highlights that brands "need to prioritize a mobile-first design" to reach customers where they shop. Fast-commerce marketers tend to execute app-install campaigns (e.g. Google UAC/Apple Search Ads) to expand their base of users, and use mobile capabilities (location-based push promotions, in-app messaging) to fuel repeat purchases. In general, a mobile-first strategy – with quick-loading ads and location-based personalization – is key to high engagement in quick commerce.

Role of Google Ads in Quick Commerce

Google’s advertising platforms are central to quick-commerce performance marketing. Each channel serves a distinct purpose:

Google Ads Channel	Use in Quick Commerce
Search Ads	Capture immediate purchase intent (e.g. “grocery delivery [locality]”) and drive app downloads or orders directly. For example, Zepto runs geo-targeted search ads in specific cities to acquire users nearby.
Display Ads	Raise awareness and retarget. Visually engage users who visited the app/website with banner ads on websites/apps across Google’s Display Network, keeping the brand top-of-mind.
Shopping Ads	Showcase products and prices (if inventory feeds are integrated). Shopping ads can highlight available SKUs from nearby dark stores, enabling users to click directly to purchase.
Youtube Ads	Video ads for storytelling and brand impact. Brands use YouTube pre-roll or short clips to demonstrate service speed and reliability. (Zepto’s campaign, for instance, used YouTube pre-rolls as part of its media mix .) Enhancements like AIgenerated motion graphics can make these ads more engaging – Zepto saw 11% more efficient installs after using AI to animate images for video ads.
UAC	Universal App Campaigns (UAC) are a powerful subset of Google Ads designed specifically to drive app installs and in-app actions. For quick-commerce brands—where mobile apps are the primary transaction point—UAC is a high-impact tool for scaling user acquisition efficiently across multiple Google properties.
Performance Max	Automated cross-network campaigns optimized for app installs or sales. Google’s Performance Max uses AI to allocate budget across Search, YouTube, Display, and more. For example, leveraging first-party data with Google’s AI-driven solutions helped Instacart rapidly grow its ads business.

Citations above show Google's role: Zepto's use of geo-targeted Search/YouTube and Instacart's AI-driven Google Ads approach. In practice, quick-commerce companies tend to supplement Google Ads with social media advertising, but Google's intent-based reach and attribution functions make it a cornerstone of performance marketing for these brands.

Key Metrics and KPIs

Success in performance marketing is measured by quantifiable metrics. Important KPIs include:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Ad impressions to clicks ratio. A greater CTR suggests that ad creative and targeting are striking a chord.

• Conversion Rate (CVR): Clicks that lead to a specified action (e.g. app download, purchase). This is a measure of landing-page and offer efficiency.

• Cost per Acquisition (CPA) / Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Average cost to acquire one customer. This is important for budgeting; particularly, fast-commerce CAC has gone up sharply – estimated to have about doubled from ~₹400–450 to ~₹800 in India – highlighting the importance of effective campaigns.

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Revenue generated per dollar spent on ads . ROAS ties directly to profitability and is often the ultimate KPI for performance marketers.

• Monthly Transacting Users (MTUs): Number of unique customers who order per month. This measures user-base growth. However, as analysts warn, MTU growth alone is insufficient unless it translates into order growth: quick-commerce players must also drive repeat orders and increase Average Order Value (AOV) . In other words, campaigns should aim not just for new customers, but for higher order frequency and value.

• Retention/Repeat Purchase Rate: The percentage of customers who make subsequent orders. High retention indicates loyalty, which is vital given the high acquisition costs.

• Average Order Value (AOV): The average revenue per order. Raising AOV (through bundling or upsells) helps offset thin margins.

These KPIs can be summarized in a metrics table:

KPI	What it Measures	Importance in Quick Commerce
CTR	% of ad impressions clicked	Indicates ad relevance and engagement.
CVR	% of clicks converting to sale/ install	Measures funnel effectiveness from ad to action.
CPA / CAC	Cost to acquire one customer	Directly affects profitability (noted to be rising steeply).
ROAS	Revenue earned per ad dollar spent	Ultimate ROI metric ; quick-commerce brands aim to maximize this.
MTUs (Active Users)	Monthly unique transacting users	Tracks user base growth; must correlate with repeat orders.
Order Frequency / AOV	Orders per user and average order value	Key for long-term profitability; higher frequency/AOV boosts LTV.
Retention Rate	% of repeat customers	Reduces pressure on continuous ad spend; higher loyalty is better.

By tracking these metrics, marketers can optimize campaigns in real-time. For instance, low CVR would prompt landing page or ad adjustments, while rising CPA might signal a need to refine targeting or creative. Importantly, one quick-commerce analyst cautions that “MTU growth… if this does not translate into order growth… could become a problem” – emphasizing that user acquisition must lead to repeat purchases and higher AOV.

Case Studies and Success Stories

• Zepto (India): Zepto’s growth exemplifies performance marketing in quick commerce. The company embraced a performance-based, hyperlocal approach, operating geo-targeted Google Ads and video campaigns to highlight its "10-minute delivery" guarantee. By incorporating AI into its process, Zepto radically accelerated creative output – from weeks to hours for video turnaround – which transferred into 11% more effective app installs at scale. These initiatives dovetailed with accelerated order growth: Zepto's "Cafe" app (10-min food delivery) recorded a 50% month-on-month growth in orders, reaching ~75,000 orders per day . Zepto’s success highlights how local targeting and datadriven ads can drive explosive quick-commerce growth.

• Swiggy Instamart (India): Swiggy has bet big on fast commerce through Instamart and has established an ad ecosystem within. Instamart provides brands multiple ad formats on its platform – such as in-app banners, sponsored product listings, and push notifications – to satisfy the Q-commerce ad immediacy. For instance, brands may broadcast limited-time promotions through Instamart's highlight items in hyperlocal banners or push notices. Such in-app performance marketing capability helps local and national brands reach high-intent users right before checkout.

• Blinkit (India): Previously Grofers, Blinkit spent a lot on digital performance channels to grab market share. Its ad strategy involved tremendous Google and Meta ad spend alongside excellent targeting. Blinkit launched geography- and behavior-targeted campaigns to encourage app installs and applied aggressive retargeting to bring back window-shoppers. They also segmented communications: Blinkit sent personalized offers through app notifications and email to enhance retention. This data-driven

  strategy enabled Blinkit to quickly expand its customer base, although it also highlighted the issue of how to balance growth with profitability (see Challenges).

• Instacart (USA): Outside India, Instacart provides a useful example of leveraging performance marketing with advanced tools. Its CMO reports that Instacart “rapidly grow[s] its ad sales business” by deploying AI-powered Google Ads campaigns and utilizing first-party shopper data . By feeding real-time inventory and consumer behavior data into Google’s automated bidding, Instacart can match advertisers to shoppers at peak intent (e.g. just as they build an online cart) . The result: more effective targeting and higher conversion rates for both Instacart and its brand partners.

These examples illustrate that quick-commerce brands – whether startups like Zepto or established marketplaces like Instamart – can drive strong performance by tightly targeting local demand, personalizing offers, and continuously optimizing ad spend

Challenges and Best Practices

While performance marketing offers high ROI potential, quick-commerce brands face several challenges:

• High Cost of Acquisition: Intense competition has driven CPA/CAC higher. Industry reports indicate Indian quick-commerce CAC approximately doubled to ~₹800. As one marketer noted, "we need to spend money to create awareness" in new geographies, and performance ads take up where brand buzz drops off. Controlling these costs is paramount, particularly as margins are already low.

• Thin Margins & Cash Burn: Fulfilling in 10–30 minutes is expensive. For instance, Blinkit admits that "10-minute delivery demands a robust logistics network, resulting in high fulfillment costs". These cost of operations imply ad spend has to be highly efficient, or profitability will be impacted. Quick commerce businesses have to subsidize orders (through discounts or passes) quite often, so marketing has to be centered around lifetime value, rather than first-time sales.

• Retention vs. Acquisition Balance: It's simple to increase active user numbers (MTUs) with discounts and ads, but retaining those users is difficult. Analysts caution that without repeat orders, user growth is useless. Thus, quick-commerce marketers need to combine retention tactics (loyalty programs, targeted messaging) with their performance campaigns.

• Inventory & Supply Alignment: A hyperlocal advertisement that claims fast delivery can only work if the products are actually available in stock close by. Misaligned promotions can disenfranchise customers and squander ad dollars. Keeping "localized inventory management" – having the correct items in each microfulfillment center – is as critical as the advertisements themselves.

• Privacy and Tracking Limitations: Similar to all online marketing, quick commerce faces problems from data privacy laws (cookie limitations, ATT). Dependence on platform-first data (e.g. app analytics) and privacy-friendly tracking is therefore mandatory, making attribution more difficult.

  
  

Best Practices: To address these challenges, leading quick-commerce brands adopt several best practices:

• Data-Driven Personalization: Employ first-party data and analytics to personalize ads. Instacart, for example, utilizes its "rich view of consumer behavior" and closed-loop measurement such that "when [customers are] assembling that cart… [ads] appear at that moment of intent". Quick-commerce marketers ought to use customer data (search history, previous orders) in a similar fashion to segment audiences and provide extremely relevant ads.

• Local Relevance: Develop creatives that are contextual at the local level. Ads mentioning local landmarks, neighborhood language, or nearby dark stores sound more resonant. Shopalyst's strategy of overlaying local delivery times and real-time stock information onto creative is a classic example of making ads hyper-relevant.

• Fast, Agile Campaign Execution: Campaigns need to be flexible, with quick creative refreshes and A/B testing. Zepto's success using AI-activated creative demonstrates the importance of being able to create and test versions quickly. Continuously test ad copy, images, and offers to optimize CTR and conversion.

• Optimize Landing Experience: Make post-click experience smooth. Mobile landing pages must load in no time and pre-populate location to display closest inventory. Creative ad builders (such as Shopalyst's "Experience Builder") recommend displaying prices/delivery by pin code and validating phone numbers for discounts to make conversion smoother.

• Holistic Approach: Balance performance ads with brand-building. Even though quick commerce may be conversion-led, brand awareness (particularly in new cities) facilitates acquisition. As one executive observed, brand marketing (social buzz, PR) increases overall awareness, whereas performance marketing wins the conversions in competitive markets .

• Harness Automation and AI: Employ automated bidding (such as Google's smart bidding) and dynamic creative optimization. Performance Max campaigns, for instance, smartly distribute budget to the top channels. AI tools (for bidding or creative) can assist keeping efficiency up at scale. Instacart's CMO credits a lot of their ad business growth to Google's AI-based solutions.

• Retention Campaigns: Don't leave existing customers behind. Place remarketing ads, use app notifications, and email marketing to get users back. Blinkit, for instance, used personalized offers through push and email to re-activate users. Such retention efforts are supplementary to acquisition ads and enhance overall ROI.

By applying these practices – targeting the right audience with the right message at the right time – quickcommerce brands can maximize their ad efficiency and support sustainable growth.

Conclusion

Performance marketing is a foundation for fast-commerce brands looking to scale visibility and drive sales in an on-demand, competitive marketplace. Hyperlocal promotion, real-time promotion, and mobile-focused advertising – supported by strong metrics – allow these firms to convert internet interest into quick orders. The evidence is clear from industry examples: a performance-driven, data-fueled strategy helped Zepto and others capture high growth. But increasing costs of acquisition, thin margins render efficiency and retention crucial.

By following best practices (precision targeting, agile creatives, AI tools) and continuously measuring key KPIs (ROAS, CPA, user growth, retention), quick-commerce players can optimize their marketing spend. For executives and investors, the message is that sophisticated performance marketing not only boosts immediate conversions but also builds the scalable foundation needed for longterm profitability in the fast-paced quick-commerce sector.