What is Quick-commerce PO model?

How it differs from a marketplace

In the marketplace model, the brand sells to the customer: it raises the invoice to the customer, the platform deducts a commission and fees, and the brand receives the rest in a settlement.

In the PO model, the platform's buying entity buys the stock outright:

1. It sends the brand a purchase order for set quantities at an agreed purchase price, often for delivery to several warehouses.
2. The brand delivers and raises a B2B tax invoice to the buying entity's GSTIN.
3. The warehouse checks the goods and issues a goods received note (GRN) for what it accepts.
4. The platform owns the stock, sets the price to the customer and sells it from its dark stores.
5. The platform pays the brand after an agreed credit period, less any debit notes.

The brand's revenue is its own invoice value to the platform, not the price the customer pays.

Why platforms in India are moving to it

India's FDI policy does not allow a foreign-owned e-commerce company to own the inventory it sells. Quick-commerce platforms with large foreign shareholdings therefore ran as marketplaces. Once a platform's group is Indian-owned and controlled, it can buy and hold stock itself.

Blinkit, for example, moved to buying stock from brands through purchase orders from September 2025, after its parent became Indian-owned and controlled. Other platforms run different structures, and some have announced similar moves. Each platform's terms change often, so check how each one you sell to buys from you, and read the supply agreement.

Terms to watch

• Margin: the gap between the purchase price and the price the platform sells at. It replaces the per-order commission.
• Credit period: how long after the GRN or invoice you are paid. A longer credit period lengthens your cash conversion cycle.
• Fill rate: the share of the ordered quantity you deliver on time. Low fill rates can bring penalties and smaller future orders.
• Shelf life at inward: products with too little shelf life left are rejected at the warehouse.
• Damage, expiry and returns: how these are passed back to you, usually by debit note.
• Listing, visibility and ads spend: often billed separately or set off against payments.

In your books

• Recognise revenue when control of the goods passes to the platform under the agreement, usually on delivery and acceptance, at the invoice value for accepted units.
• Record rejections, shortages, damage and expiry as credit or debit notes, matched to the original invoice.
• Amounts the platform charges for advertising or visibility are a marketing expense only if you get a distinct service at a fair price. Otherwise they reduce revenue.
• Reconcile each PO, delivery, GRN, invoice, debit note and payment. Unmatched debit notes and short payments are the most common leak in this channel.

GST and TDS on PO sales

A PO sale is an ordinary B2B supply from the brand to the platform's buying entity:

• The brand charges GST on its invoice, and the buyer claims input tax credit on it. A delivery to a warehouse in another state is an inter-state supply.
• E-invoicing applies if your turnover is above the notified limit, and an e-way bill is needed for the movement of goods where the rules require one.
• Because the brand sells to the platform on its own account, not through it, the GST TCS that marketplaces collect under section 52 should not arise on these sales, and nor should e-commerce TDS. The buyer may instead deduct TDS on purchase of goods if the notified limits are crossed. Confirm the treatment for each platform's structure, because some platforms buy through one entity and sell through another.