Blinkit highlights the looming price war in the Indian e-commerce market

Zomato’s marketing team Blinkit is accelerating its growth and expects further losses as competition heats up in the Indian instant market.

Blinkit now aims to reach 2,000 dark shops – small warehouses located in residential areas that use online orders – by December 2025, a year ahead of its previous guidance, after surpassing 1,000 stores at the end of the quarter of December. ).

This run led to a loss of 103 crore rupees ($11.9 million) in Q3FY25, as Blinkit added 368 stores and 1.3 million warehouses in the previous two quarters.

JPMorgan believes the industry has entered “takeover mode,” as companies pursue aggressive strategies related to store leasing, product discounts and loyalty programs. The bank noted in the filing that other major players – including Zepto, the No.2 player in fast-paced transactions – are expanding their dark webs “ahead” of the time.

Express delivery companies – which deliver groceries and other products to customers within 10 to 15 minutes – are killing the e-commerce market share in Indiaforcing established players to restructure supply chains in response to changing consumer preferences.

“As we continue to expand our stores, our network can carry a large inventory of underutilized stores that will impact our long-term profitability in one or two quarters,” said Aksant Goyal, Zomato’s chief financial officer. This investment, he added, will keep growth at “more than 100%” through FY25 and FY26.

Technological change comes amid heightened competition. Zepto, supported by Lightspeed, StrepStone and Glade Brook, raised more than $1 billion last year. Zomato they also earned $1 billion in November last year through the right place to the organization.

Flipkart as well he started his fast-paced business offering last year and has added more than 100 dark stores. Amazon began his fast-paced commercial drive in the South Asian market last month. And Swiggy, which operates the No.3 fast platform in India, was listed at the end of last year in what was The biggest IPO of 2024 in the world.

“The main result of the increased competition was the speed of customer information and the adoption of fast marketing,” said Albinder Dhindsa, who leads Blinkit. He compared it to the early days of food delivery, when greater competition led to higher costs for customers across the industry.

While Blinkit’s biggest customers remain loyal — including one-third of the company’s stock price in December — the company said the pace of competition has temporarily slowed margin growth. The company expects its recent ventures in the chain of stores to bring more profit when the business reaches a large scale.

The growth comes as food delivery giant Zomato has shown slow growth at 17% per annum in recent years, compared to a brisk business growth of 120%.