Amid rising competitive intensity in the quick commerce space, Zomato-owned Blinkit has crossed the milestone of 1,000 dark stores a quarter ahead of the company’s previous guidance.
According to Zomato’s public filings, Blinkit had 1,007 dark stores at the end of the December quarter (Q3 FY25). In the July-December period, the quick commerce platform added 368 new dark stores. This, in turn, also led to a capex of Rs 370 crore in the last two quarters.
In comparison, Swiggy-owned Instamart had 609 dark stores as of the September quarter. Meanwhile, Zepto reportedly had 700-750 dark stores as of November 2024. Both Zepto and Swiggy are eyeing expanding the number of dark stores to 1000 by March 2025.
Blinkit’s aggressive expansion has hurt its listed parent’s profitability. Zomato saw its profit drop to Rs 59 crore compared to Rs 138 crore reported in the same period a year ago.
“In addition to the operating expenditure mentioned above, we have also incurred capital expenditure of Rs 370 crore in the last two quarters for setting up the 368 net new stores and 1.3 million sqft of warehousing space. These spends largely comprised fit-outs (racks, cold storage) and IT hardware at the stores and warehouses,” said Albinder Dhindsa, the chief executive of Blinkit.
The company also reported an adjusted EBITDA of Rs 285 crore, which is a 128 percent increase from the previous year. However, on a QoQ basis, consolidated adjusted EBITDA declined by 14 percent (or Rs 45 crore) despite the improvement in food delivery margins. This was “largely due to accelerated investments in expanding our quick commerce store network, where quarterly losses increased by Rs 95 crore QoQ,” said Akshant Goyal, Chief Financial Officer, Zomato.
Speaking about the same, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal said, “The losses in our quick commerce business this quarter are largely on account of pulling forward the growth investments in the business that we would have otherwise made in a staggered manner over the next few quarters.”
The company now believes that they will get to their target of 2,000 stores by December 2025. This will be much earlier than the previous guidance of December 2026. However, with the company’s continued focus on quick commerce expansion, it might incur a loss in the long run.
Speaking about the same in an investor call, Akshant said, “If we continue to add a large percentage of stores each quarter, profitability improvements might take longer. However, if the pace slows, profitability could improve more rapidly.”
Meanwhile, the company has also highlighted that they will maintain market share while optimizing margins. “We focus on improving efficiency without compromising on market share,” added Akshant.
