Impact of Quick Commerce on Traditional Kirana Stores in Haryana: An Assessment of Retailers’ Perception, Business Performance, and Customer Loyalty

Abstract

Quick commerce, the delivery of groceries and daily essentials within 10 to 20 minutes from neighbourhood dark stores, has grown faster than any other retail format in India. This study assesses what that growth means for traditional kirana stores in Haryana, with attention to three outcomes: how retailers perceive the new competitor, how their business performance is affected, and whether their customers remain loyal. The study adopts an exploratory, secondary-data design. Evidence is drawn from industry reports by Datum Intelligence, Redseer Strategy Consultants, HSBC Global Research and Research and Markets, from the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF), from a July 2026 mapping of dark stores in Haryana, and from recent peer-reviewed surveys of kirana owners in Delhi NCR and Pune. Nationally, the quick commerce market is estimated at US$6.78 billion in 2025, and about 21% of its 2024 sales, worth US$1.28 billion, came out of kirana purchases. Kirana stores nevertheless held about 91% of the grocery market in 2025. Haryana had 333 dark stores across 25 cities in July 2026, of which 74.5% were in Gurugram and Faridabad alone. The impact on kirana stores is therefore highly uneven within the state: severe in the NCR belt, emerging in the district towns, and almost absent in rural areas. Survey evidence indicates that about half of urban kirana owners report a strong effect on sales, that most have responded with home delivery, phone ordering and digital payments, and that few intend to move their business online. Customer loyalty holds where the kirana offers what quick commerce cannot: credit, small-ticket purchases and personal trust. The paper proposes a district-level exposure framework and policy measures for retailers, platforms and the state.