Independence Day Discounts: Convenience Fee Can Make Your Shopping Experience Inconvenient, Here's How

India is gearing up to celebrate its 79th Independence Day on August 15, 2025. While the core part of the celebration is rooted in the display of patriotism, the deals and discounts offered on the momentous occasion are also welcomed by shoppers across tax brackets. Tech-savvy shoppers even wait for ‘Independence Day’ special deals, postponing major purchases in the anticipation of heavy discounts. However, amid the celebration, a small but significant fee is beginning to eat into the deep discounts offered by retailers.

This small fee is called a ‘convenience fee’,  ‘platform fee’, or a ‘marketplace fee’ across different platforms. The fee is typically charged by the e-commerce or quick commerce company that people buy goods from for using their infrastructure and services. This small fee typically ranges between Rs 6 to Rs 30 per order, according to a report by ET Retail. Considering the range, quick commerce is roughly paying an average platform/handling fee of Rs 18.

The number may seem small, but factoring in the rising popularity of quick-commerce and e-commerce, the number becomes significant. Earlier in May, a report by Moneycontrol said that Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart delivered a total of 4.15 to 4.45 million orders across India each day in March 2025, citing industry insiders. Given the average cost of Rs 18, quick commerce users would have paid as much as Rs 8.01 crore in one day as platform fees, and in a month, the number would have surged to Rs 240.3 crore.

While no major retailer has explicitly disclosed why they are charging this fee, some of the key motivations include a drive to enhance profitability and fund increasing operational costs. The rise in operational costs stems from the money quick commerce companies have to spend on warehousing, inventory management, and quick delivery services. Other significant costs include the money spent on running the app and website smoothly and ensuring secure payment gateways.

Another probable reason for the introduction of the fee is likely to be ‘comparison shopping’. This practice refers to buyers checking the price of the same product on multiple platforms to get the best deal. Since the platform cannot individually raise the price of each singular item, they introduce a small fee at checkout to make up for the lower prices they offer without altering the ‘sticker price’.

Notably, the practice of charging the convenience fee began as an experiment on food delivery app Swiggy, wherein the platform charged a modest  Rs 2 “platform fee” to its users. E-commerce giant Amazon India has also implemented a flat marketplace fee of Rs 5 on every order placed by customers, and Flipkart India has implemented a Rs 3 platform fee. As per Amazon India’s FAQ section, the marketplace fee is charged simply to enable the company to offer its services.

“Marketplace Fee is a flat fee charged by Amazon to customers. It enables Amazon to offer convenient access to a vast range of products from millions of sellers,” the Amazon FAQ reads.

From Convenience Fee To Convenience Free

Unlike the delivery fee, which goes away once the order value exceeds a certain threshold, the platform fee does not budge. However, shoppers can deploy some strategies to reduce the amount of money they have to pay as convenience fee. Here’s a look at some of the strategies:

Use Quick Commerce Judiciously

To reduce the amount of money users have to ultimately pay as a convenience fee, they can restrict their quick commerce usage only for emergencies and opt for physical shopping for daily needs.

Club Your Purchases

Since the fee is charged per order, it helps to reduce the number of orders by clubbing multiple purchases. It might also help to add items that other people living with you wish to order, as doing so can reduce the total amount of money you would have to collectively pay for two separate orders.

Compare Prices Across Apps

Different apps can offer the same product for different prices. Thus, users should always compare the final price of a product on several apps before purchasing it.

To conclude, it is not possible to completely do away with paying a platform fee or its many iterations. However, by shopping strategically and budgeting the purchases smartly, individuals can reduce the money they end up paying to the companies.