Quick commerce major Zepto delivered over 20 lakh orders per day during the Diwali week and the company’s order volumes are now 40 percent higher than its closest rival, the company’s co-founder and CEO Aadit Palicha told Moneycontrol in an interview.
In India’s quick commerce market, valued at over $7 billion, Eternal-owned Blinkit continues to be the market leader and clocked over 30 lakh orders per day (OPD) during the Diwali week, as per sources.
Zepto, on the other hand, clocked 20.1 lakh orders on October 18, 23.7 lakh orders on October 19 and 21.3 lakh orders on October 20, in the run up to Diwali as more customers came on to the platform, as per Palicha.
According to sources, Instamart delivered 14.4 lakh orders on October 18, 16.1 lakh orders on October 19 and 15.8 lakh orders on October 20, making it the the third largest player behind Blinkit and Zepto on an orders per day (OPD) basis.
Swiggy did not reply to Moneycontrol's queries as it is in its silent period ahead of Q2FY26 results.
Asked if Palicha was larger than Swiggy’s Instamart, on an orders per day basis, Palicha, without taking specific names said: “We consistently delivered 40 percent more orders than our closest peer on all peak days this Diwali season. Even outside of Diwali we are consistently doing 30-40% more orders per day than our nearest competitor, and we have a substantially lower burn per order than them.”
Palicha did not shed light on the absolute burn numbers.
While Palicha did not take specific names, Swiggy’s Instamart is Zepto’s closest rival and the two companies keep switching between the second and third spots.
A source aware of the developments said Swiggy’s Instamart was 15-20% larger than Zepto on a net merchandise value (NMV) basis during the three day period in the run up to Diwali.
CEO Palicha however refuted those claims. “We are larger than our closest rival on all metrics, OPD, NMV or any other metric that can be considered,” he told Moneycontrol.
“There is an inaccurate narrative being built in the investor community that we are in third position in scale. With us doing significantly higher order volume and lower burn per order, that narrative has no basis in the real numbers,” he added.
Zepto’s growth during the three day period, which is about 30 percent higher than business as usual (BAU) period, has come days after the company raised $450 million (around Rs 3,900 crore) to up the competitive intensity in quick commerce and grab a larger market share.
ALSO READ: Quick commerce firms set to clock 1 billion orders by Diwali this calendar year
Typically, after raising large amounts of capital, companies, including Zepto, ramp up marketing spends, lower the threshold for free deliveries and more to attract more customers onto the platform.
The marketing push also likely pushed up average order values (AOVs) during the three day period. Sources said Zepto had an AOV of around Rs 850 this Diwali and Swiggy’s Instamart had an AOV of about Rs 950.
Palicha however said AOVs do not matter much if order volumes are higher. “The average order value becomes inconsequential if the burn per order is high and worse than ours. Essentially if your AOV is higher but your burn per order is higher also, that means your cost to service that AOV is disproportionately higher,” he concluded.
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