PhonePe today confirmed that it is winding down the B2C arm of Pincode — the hyperlocal quick commerce app — and will now focus entirely on building B2B technology and sourcing solutions for offline retailers. The Economic Times
The decision marks a strategic shift: Pincode will no longer serve consumers directly via a quick-commerce app, but instead will deliver tools such as inventory management, order management, ERP, direct sourcing and replenishment solutions to offline shops across India
Why the Pivot: Challenges & Realities
1. Distracted from Core Mission
According to Sameer Nigam (PhonePe Founder & Group CEO), operating yet another B2C quick commerce app was distracting from Pincode’s core mission — which is to empower offline shopkeepers with modern technology.
2. Difficulty in Managing Quick Commerce with Kirana-Store Model
Unlike many quick commerce competitors that use dark stores, Pincode operated via neighbourhood kirana stores. While this asset-light and hyperlocal approach offered promise, managing inventory and ensuring consistent customer experience across many small, decentralized stores proved challenging.
3. Financial Viability Concerns
Earlier in 2025, Pincode began charging a handling fee and raised the minimum order value — a signal that the economics of B2C quick commerce were under pressure.
4. Better Growth Potential in B2B Retail Tech Solutions
The offline retail segment in India remains massive. By shifting focus to B2B solutions — inventory, supply-chain, sourcing, POS/ERP — Pincode aims to help kirana shops stay competitive against e-commerce and quick commerce firms. This B2B model offers a potentially more sustainable and scalable path forward.
5. Quick Commerce Market Is Tough and Crowded
The quick commerce space in India is crowded, with established players offering dark-store-based rapid delivery. Compared to them, Pincode’s hyperlocal, kirana-based model may have struggled to match speed, pricing, and reliability at scale
What This Means for Stakeholders
✅ For Offline Retailers / Kiranas
- They stand to benefit from stronger tech-driven support: better inventory management, efficient order processing, supply-chain support, and sourcing
- Pincode’s “Smart Store Program” could help them digitize operations while retaining their local identity.
⚠️ For Consumers Who Used Pincode’s B2C App
- The quick-commerce app will be discontinued, so the convenience of 10–20 minute delivery from local stores will no longer be available (at least via Pincode).
- Consumers may have to rely on other quick commerce players or traditional retail / delivery models for fast delivery needs.
🏢 For PhonePe
- The move streamlines Pincode’s operations and re-aligns the business with a more sustainable B2B model.
- It could improve unit economics and reduce burn from a challenging quick commerce market.
- However, it also means PhonePe exits direct consumer-facing quick commerce — conceding that space to other rivals.
Context: Pincode’s Quick Commerce Journey (2023–2025)
- Pincode was launched around April 2023 by PhonePe, initially on the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) protocol, aiming to connect online buyers with local offline stores.
- The platform quickly expanded to many major Indian cities and worked with hundreds of local retail stores for same-day / quick delivery of groceries, medicines, and essentials.
- Over time, Pincode exited non-food categories, rolled out handling fees, and tried to optimize operations — but incurred heavy losses, casting doubt on viability of continuing B2C operations long-term.
- In July 2025, Pincode claimed to have digitally empowered over 1,000 offline stores across cities.
Thus, the decision to wind down B2C consumer operations reflects both external market realities and internal re-assessment.
What’s Next: Pincode 2.0 — B2B Focus
Going ahead, Pincode will concentrate on building and scaling B2B services for offline retailers across India. According to Vivek Lohcheb (CEO of Pincode), the company will invest in enhancing its ERP, inventory and order-management solutions, and supply-chain / sourcing / replenishment offerings for merchants.
This B2B pivot aligns with the broader digital transformation trend among kiranas and traditional retailers — many of whom are seeking technology-enabled solutions to stay competitive and relevant.
Why This Matters: Implications for Indian Retail & Quick Commerce
- The exit of Pincode’s B2C arm underscores how tough the quick commerce business is in India — even for big fintech-backed players.
- It might discourage other non-specialist platforms from launching their own quick commerce apps and shift focus toward enabling offline retailers instead.
- For traditional retailers and kiranas, this could be an opportunity — as B2B tools may help them scale smarter, digitize operations, and compete with e-commerce giants.
- For consumers, this reflects a shrinking pool of quick-commerce offerings — reinforcing the dominance of major players who can sustain the unit economics of fast delivery.
Conclusion
The decision by PhonePe to wind down the B2C quick commerce operations of Pincode marks a significant moment in India’s evolving retail and quick-commerce landscape. It shows that while the idea of hyper-local, kirana-store-based quick commerce had potential, the economic and operational challenges were too steep to ignore.
By pivoting to B2B solutions for offline retailers, PhonePe is recalibrating ambitions — not just to survive, but to build a platform that strengthens traditional retail while leveraging digital technologies.
Whether this pivot proves successful remains to be seen. But for now, it signals a maturation of the Indian retail-tech ecosystem: away from flashy quick-commerce experiments, and toward sustainable, tech-enabled retail empowerment.
