Blinkit revamps seller model, to hold inventory and sell directly to customers

Blinkit revamps seller model, to hold inventory and sell directly to customers

Blinkit is overhauling the way it works with sellers on its platform, shifting to a model where it will directly sell to customers and hold inventory on its books. The Zomato-owned quick commerce company has begun notifying partners about this change, which will come into effect from September 1, according to people familiar with the development.

Moneycontrol has reviewed a copy of the communication sent by Blinkit to its seller base.

As part of the transition, Blinkit will no longer require sellers to maintain multiple Additional Places of Business (APOBs) under their GST registrations for every state where the company operates.

Until now, sellers had to declare an APOB in each state where their inventory was stored in Blinkit’s dark stores, and often secure separate FSSAI licenses as well. This created a significant compliance load—especially for small and mid-sized brands scaling across geographies.

Under the new model, Blinkit will assume responsibility for inventory and regulatory compliance, purchasing goods from sellers and selling them directly to customers as the merchant of record.

In the note to sellers, Blinkit said they can now operate using just a single GST registration, without worrying about state-level tax infrastructure or location-specific food safety approvals. The company will transfer inventory from the seller’s books to its own legal entity, Blink Commerce Private Limited (BCPL), and manage all downstream logistics and taxation.

The aim, Blinkit said, is to let sellers focus on merchandising, while it handles the operational and compliance complexity.

Despite this shift, Blinkit is not changing commercial terms. Sellers will continue to control product listings and pricing, and existing structures—such as storage fees, commissions, and payout timelines—will remain intact.

The company also plans to roll out deeper analytics tools, including dark-store level performance dashboards and auto-recall mechanisms for underperforming products.

This change is part of a broader upgrade to Blinkit’s Seller Hub, aimed at simplifying how merchants onboard and scale. Sellers opting into the new structure will be able to launch listings in high-performing stores of their choice. From there, Blinkit will allow them to scale successful SKUs to other locations based on performance, without requiring fresh compliance paperwork at each step, the communication showed.

The transition will unfold in four phases. Blinkit formally announced the shift on July 12. Sellers have until July 30 to opt in to the new model, after which those who haven’t agreed to the new terms will not be allowed to list or replenish inventory.

On August 31, the company will migrate inventory from seller books to its own, valuing it at the GRN (Goods Receipt Note) or landing price. Final settlement and reconciliation will be completed by September 3.

Blinkit has also detailed how it will manage valuation adjustments. For instance, if a seller's GRN value for a product is Rs 85 and the selling price to Blinkit is Rs 100, the company will issue a Rs 15 credit note to balance the difference. Starting September, Blinkit will only accept inventory through formal purchase orders, enabling tighter procurement and tracking.

This shift has been in the works for several months. Eternal, the parent company of Blinkit and Zomato, has been laying the groundwork to transition Blinkit to an inventory-led model as part of its broader strategy in quick commerce.

In May, Eternal secured board approval to be classified as an Indian-owned and controlled company (IOCC), after capping total foreign shareholding at 49.5 percent on a fully diluted basis. This status allows it to comply with foreign direct investment (FDI) rules that apply to multi-brand retail businesses owning inventory—rules Blinkit needed to meet to adopt its new structure.

With the IOCC classification in place, the company now has the regulatory headroom to shift its GST and operating model accordingly.