Reclaim Your Margins, Data, and Brand – Cost of Third Party Quick Commerce Platform In India

The Costs of Third-Party Quick Commerce Platform in India

Relying on third party quick commerce platform in India or marketplaces or aggregator apps might seem convenient, but it comes at a steep price. As your business grows, the hidden costs and constraints of these third-party channels multiply. You’ve probably experienced some of these pinch firsthand:

Vanishing Profit Margins: Every order you get through a third-party platform makes as much money as you. Marketplaces and delivery apps typically take a hefty cut – often 20–30% or more per transaction as commission fees. For restaurants, food delivery aggregators charge anywhere from 15% up to 38% per order. That’s nearly a third of your revenue gone. Over time, these fees add up and each order becomes less and less profitable. You’re essentially paying a “heavy middleman tax” on every sale, which squeezes your margins and limits your growth.

No Customer Data (Zero Relationship): Perhaps even more damaging, third-party channels come between you and your customers. Platforms like Amazon or food delivery apps keep all the customer information to themselves, giving you little to no insight into who your buyers are, You don’t own the customer relationship on these platforms even when you pay for all return, refunds, discounts! Aggregators often refuse to share customer contacts, preferences, or buying behaviors, robbing you of the most potent growth tool – your customer data. Not knowing who your customers are means you can’t personalize offers or re-engage, or take their feedback and learn form them effectively. It’s like selling blindfolded.

Loss of Brand Control: When you sell via a marketplace or aggregator, your brand is essentially boxed into their format. You have little control over pricing, merchandising, or the customer experience on those platforms[Source]. Your carefully crafted brand identity gets diluted when you’re just another listing in a crowded marketplace. For example, one restaurant found that its vibrant, colorful brand style was completely lost on its food delivery aggregator page – the app showed only a generic menu, with none of the imagery or personality from the restaurant’s own website[Source]. This is true for product brands as well: on marketplaces, you can’t fully control how your product is presented or which competing ads show up next to it. Your ability to differentiate and build loyalty is severely limited.

In short, third-party sales channels take a big bite out of your profits, keep you in the dark about your own customers, and hold your brand back. In fact, many brands eventually realize that the platform is “quietly devouring” the real dividends of their growth through fees and lack of customer access [Source]. The result? You’re left fighting a profit battle with one hand tied behind your back.

A New Path: Owning Your Quick Commerce Channel

The good news is that there’s a better way forward. Imagine if you could keep nearly all of that revenue, know exactly who your customers are, and present your brand theme exactly as you envision. This is the promise of owning your own quick commerce channel. Instead of being one among thousands on a third-party app, you run your own online store or delivery app – powered by ECommNxt – where you set the rules.

Here’s how taking the direct approach addresses those pain points:

Grab Back Your Margin: When you sell on your own platform, you eliminate the sky-high marketplace commissions. You might still have some payment processing or tech platform fees, but they pale in comparison to the 20–40% cut middlemen took. This means you keep far more of each sale. The result? Higher profit per order and more cash to reinvest in growth, customer acquisition and loyalty. For instance, Cocoblu Retail, a major Amazon seller in India, is making news for its expansion into the quick commerce market. The sales volume of Cocoblu Retail on Amazon is approx. 230,000min –1.16 max million orders per month i.e. 8000 orders/day (based on an educated guess). On their own if they get even 600 orders/day and AOV ₹400→₹550 can lift per‑order contribution to ~₹70 (ops benchmark). This show that shifting from Amazon to a D2C site can increase profit margins from under 10% to over 20%[7]. Simply put, every order is worth more when it’s via your own channel.

Own Your Customer Data: Launching your own quick commerce platform means you have direct access to every customer interaction. You’ll know who your customers are, what they bought, when, and how often. This data is marketing gold. It lets you personalize communications and tailor offers to bring customers back. Want to run a special promotion for high-value repeat buyers? Now you can, because you know who they are. Brands that control their customer data can create the kind of personalized experiences that drive loyalty and higher lifetime value. In fact, 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that offers personalized experiences [Source], which is only possible when you have the data. With ECommNxt, all your customer insights – from purchase history to feedback – are at your fingertips, not locked away in someone else’s database.

Build Your Brand Your Way: Your own platform is a blank canvas for your brand. You dictate the theme, color palette, the messaging on promotion, the entire customer journey. Want a splash screen that tells your brand story? Done. Want to feature your best-selling products front, or highlight your farm-to-table sourcing with rich visuals? Go for it. No more one-size-fits-all pages. On your own app, you have creative freedom to deliver the unique experience that sets your business apart. This consistency and control strengthen your brand in the eyes of customers. Plus, you’re no longer sitting next to direct competitors as you would on a marketplace – your offerings stand in the spotlight. Over time, this builds greater brand loyalty because customers associate the great experience directly with your company, not a third-party intermediary.

Speed and Agility: Quick commerce is all about speed – not just in delivery, but in how fast you can adapt to market trends or customer needs. With your own platform, you can implement changes or launch new promotions instantly, without waiting or paying for a platform’s approval. You’re will also get enhancements to new technologies to stay relevant (like one-click reordering, AI-driven product recommendations, natural language search etc.) that third-party platforms might not offer just for you. In a world where nearly 46% of online shoppers abandon carts if deliveries take too long, having the agility to meet customer expectations for speed is crucial. Owning the process means if you want to offer 1-hour delivery in a region or roll out curbside pickup, you can do it on your terms.

Crucially, modern solutions like ECommNxt make it easier than ever to go direct. In the past, creating your own e-commerce or quick-commerce platform with on-demand delivery, campaign management, order management, CRM was a daunting project – it could take 12-18 months and a $400K-$900K investment to build something basic from scratch[12]. That’s a barrier many businesses couldn’t overcome. ECommNxt changes the game by providing a turnkey quick commerce platform that’s pre-built and scalable. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel or hire a massive dev team. With ECommNxt, you can launch your own branded online marketplace fast and affordably – essentially, plug-and-play your business into a proven infrastructure. It’s like getting the power of an Amazon or Instacart, but for your own brand.

In summary, the quick commerce revolution is about taking back control. By owning your sales channel, you regain your margin, gain priceless customer insights, and shape a branded experience that fosters loyalty. You’re not at the mercy of third-party policies or fee hikes – you’re in the driver’s seat. For D2C entrepreneurs, restaurant owners, and ambitious wholesalers, this shift can be transformative. Instead of being one more cog in someone else’s machine, you build an engine for your own growth.

Ready to put this into action? Schedule a live demo of ECommNxt today and see how easily you can launch your own quick commerce platform – and start reclaiming your profits, data, and brand power.

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