Why Hammer Prefers Cables Over Premium Headphones For Quick Commerce

For D2C consumer brand Hammer Lifestyle, quick commerce is not a channel for replicating its entire ecommerce catalogue. Instead, the electronics brand prioritises immediate-need products such as cables over high-consideration purchases such as premium headphones.

The choice is shaped by how consumers shop on quick commerce platforms and the limited shelf space available in dark stores, founder Rohit Nandwani said at Inc42’s ‘The D2C & Retail Summit’.

Nandwani said Hammer recognised the channel’s potential in 2023 after he saw a smartwatch being ordered on Blinkit as a Rakhi gift. The incident demonstrated how quick commerce was expanding beyond food and groceries into electronics accessories and other products consumers might need immediately.

However, the expansion of quick commerce into electronics does not mean every product is suited to the channel.

With limited shelf space in dark stores, Hammer needed to identify SKUs that can generate sufficient demand and remain viable on the platform. Premium headphones are typically high-consideration purchases that consumers are less likely to make impulsively.

Nandwani was speaking during a panel discussion titled ‘Is Quick Commerce A Margin Trap?’ The discussion also featured 4700BC cofounder Chirag Gupta, Longway cofounder Ritish Garg, and Nitro Commerce cofounder and CEO Umair Mohammad. The session was moderated by Commercify360 founder and managing director Renu Bisht.

The panel examined if quick commerce can be a profitable channel for consumer brands.

Gupta said consumers are shifting from traditional retail to quick commerce because they increasingly valued speed and convenience, particularly for impulse purchases such as snacks.

According to him, the channel can be particularly beneficial for newer brands that have historically struggled with the costs and complexity of building traditional distribution networks.

While quick commerce platforms charge retailer margins and brands also spend on advertising, Gupta said some of these costs could be offset by removing distributors from the supply chain.

These platforms allow brands to supply directly to dark stores, potentially saving the 8-10% margin traditionally paid to distributors, he added.

Gupta said 4700BC is contribution-margin positive on quick commerce. 

Meanwhile, Mohammad outlined three metrics – availability, assortment, and advertising, or the “3As” – that brands should monitor on quick commerce platforms.

He said brands should not assess returns on advertising spends in isolation, as consumers frequently move across platforms during their purchase journeys. Availability in dark stores can also affect a brand’s organic visibility and sales on quick commerce platforms.

Supply chain efficiency is another critical factor. Gupta said brands that take 15-20 days to replenish quick commerce darkstores risk losing availability and visibility.

Maintaining shorter replenishment cycles and operating closer to darkstores could therefore directly influence sales, he added.

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