Comfort  as Currency
By Mahija Pothapragada

Comfort as Currency: The Consumer Psychology Behind India’s Convenience Boom 

Today, every aspect of our lives is driven by technology.We have seen the world around us evolve from pagers to computers to AI now taking over the world. Humans have always paved the way for businesses that cash in on comfort, as comfort is often dear to the customer. Nearly every new invention in today’s world is based on human comfort. This article makes an effort to understand the rationale behind this consumer choice and its economic implications.

Every human being craves/loves comfort, and businesses have long capitalised on that emotion. Something as simple as a mobile phone or a computer can be viewed as an invention meant to increase comfort. Mobile phones replaced the slow postal services with instant communication that spread quickly across the world. Behavioural economics focuses on this nature of human and consumer behaviour, describing an interesting phenomenon: the economics of instant gratification, or short term gains versus long term benefits.

This phenomenon plays out in our everyday life activities; when we are in a shopping mall and see a discount offer on a product we do not wish to buy, we often reconsider our choice since the same expensive goods appear affordable. The consumer does not wish to lose this opportunity and might even purchase the good, there is instant gratification for the consumer.

Another real life example appears in our behaviour toward health choices. Health is something the current generation is very concerned about, and with the new year approaching and resolutions filling up the vision boards, people wish to switch their diets, start exercising, and pay attention to their health. Imagine today is day one of  your diet and your friend offers you a pizza, you are tempted. There is nothing wrong with having pizza for a day, you think, “We can start exercising from tomorrow.” This attitude of preferring instant gratification prevails amongst consumers.

Exploiting this theory of instant gratification, businesses that offer convenience logistics as their product, especially e-commerce, have taken over the world like a boom. They have wonderfully captured the consumer psychology of enjoying comfort, and the consumer does not mind paying an extra penny for it if they are getting everything delivered to their place without any effort.

India's e-commerce story started with Flipkart entering the market in 2007.Later on Amazon started operating in the Indian market around 2013. One of the main reasons why these platforms have taken a hold of the Indian market is because the consumer does not need to personally take the effort to purchase the goods themselves, the product arrives at their doorstep. Secondly, all different varieties of goods are available in one place, so the consumer can easily compare and contrast different products before making a purchase. They do not need to visit every shop individually for the same.

Trust was a major hurdle for the companies entering the Indian e-commerce market. One of the major concerns of shopping online for many consumers was the accuracy of the purchase and the possibility of online fraud. There were high chances of receiving defective products or even receiving nothing at all. To help the consumer, the Cash on Delivery (COD) facility was introduced, which let the consumer  pay for the product only upon receiving it. Exchange and return policies let customers try before they buy, use it, love it, or return it easily. The features we observe now have all been introduced to comfort the customer more and more so that they completely prefer the online shopping medium over the offline one.

If we look at recent trends, quick commerce is booming in the Indian market. Ever wondered why? simple, Amazon, Flipkart, etc., take at least two to three days on average to deliver their goods. This is where players like Zepto, Instamart, and Blinkit found a whitespace in the Indian market. They thought, why not provide this convenience to the consumers as well? They understood consumer psychology well: the consumer is willing to pay a little more if he is able to receive goods instantly, again a play on the instant gratification psychology of the consumer. Earlier online purchases were limited to nonperishables, but now perishables and daily essentials are also available. Now different companies offer this convenience, specializing in particular types of goods such as makeup, clothing, or food.

Figure 1 illustrates the current and projected revenues of the quick commerce sector in India. The industry is expected to expand at a double-digit compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 19.6%, highlighting the rapid scale-up of this business model. A significant share of platform revenues is driven by home applications, which forms the core of consumer demand. Additionally, clothing and footwear emerge as major revenue-generating categories, reflecting a broadening of quick commerce beyond groceries into higher-value and lifestyle products.

One of the main reasons for the success of these industries in India, apart from the comfort loving consumer, is that India is the most populated country in the world. It has surplus labour in need of employment. These businesses cannot run successfully in the absence of manpower since they are heavily dependent on logistics. The surplus of labour reduces the burden of high operational costs for these companies, allowing them to operate efficiently and profitably.

In the October 2024 quarter, quick commerce platforms in India generated approximately 40,000 new jobs, underscoring the sector’s growing contribution to employment. Looking ahead, the industry aims to create over 500,000 jobs by the end of 2025, driven by rapid expansion in logistics, warehousing, and last-mile delivery operations. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the average monthly salary of workers employed on quick commerce platforms is estimated at around ₹22,600, highlighting the sector’s role in supporting urban and semi-urban livelihoods

However, one important question remains. Although these industries provide great consumer services, they have raised concerns regarding the kind of employment being generated in the nation.High unemployment rates push people into such roles, but they do not always offer good quality employment. Therefore, while building these businesses is definitely important for the economy, being concerned about the quality of employment they create is also a valid and necessary point for debate.

Although concerns regarding the creation of quality employment persist, the increasing scalability of quick commerce businesses is likely to generate demand for skilled professionals in areas such as marketing, supply chain management, and operations. These roles will be critical in ensuring the long-term sustainability and commercial viability of the industry.