By Ashutosh Shekhar, Program Manager, NICDC Logistics Data Services Ltd (NLDSL)
In logistics, scale has long been measured in square footage and fleet strength. But India’s new wave of commerce is flipping that formula.
Welcome to the era of small-format logistics, where 1,000 sq. ft. micro-hubs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are outperforming mega warehouses in urban sprawls, not in volume, but in velocity.
Backed by rising consumption outside metros, the hyperlocal warehousing model is now a strategic growth engine for quick-commerce (Q-commerce) players. This isn’t a metro trend trickling down, it’s a bottom-up disruption.
The new logistics battleground: Cities you’ve overlooked
E-commerce growth in India is no longer linear. As smartphone penetration breached 75% in semi-urban clusters, Tier 2+ cities saw a compounded annual growth of 19.4% in online order volume in 2024, according to IMARC estimates.