Bengaluru, April 16 -- Quick commerce is evolving beyond a distribution channel into a testing ground for product innovation, enabling brands-from new-age to legacy players, across categories from milk to makeup-to launch, refine and scale offerings.

The appeal lies in the cost advantage over traditional rollouts, particularly for smaller brands that can test in small batches, track repeat purchases and tweak products in real time.

"Rather than spending Rs.10 crore on a big-bang launch, brands can test with Rs.20-30 lakh and see what works," said Sashi Kumar of organic dairy enterprise Akshayakalpa Organic.

The Bengaluru-based firm launched its high-protein milk exclusively on Swiggy to validate demand. "The expectation was not volumes...