Blinkit aims to have 2,000 dark stores by 2026 while remaining profitable: Albinder Dhindsa

Blinkit is owned by Zomato and is based in Gurugram

Zomato-owned quick commerce company Blinkit aims to hit 2,000 dark stores by the end of 2026 from 639 at the end of the June quarter.

"As of now, we see a line of sight of getting to about 2,000 stores for our current business. Most of these stores would be in top 10 cities in India. Beyond the large cities, the size of the market is still undiscovered. If everything goes as planned (which usually doesn’t), we plan to get to 2,000 stores, latest by the end of 2026 while remaining profitable," Blinkit chief Albinder Dhindsa said on August 1.

"Our average GOV (gross order value) throughput per store has grown from about Rs 6 lakh per day per store when we were at 383 stores exactly a year ago to about Rs 10 lakh today when we are at 639 stores. For our top 50 stores today, this number is Rs 18 lakh per day per store, and growing," he added.

Its GOV grew 130% year-on-year to Rs 4,923 crore in the June quarter, while operating loss decreased to Rs 3 crore.

"The average selection available to customers in any neighbourhood has increased between 4-5x over the last eight quarters - we are now able to offer up to 25,000 unique SKUs to our customers in some locations," the company said.

"A large part of this expansion in selection has happened outside of the traditional grocery segments of FMCG, fruits & vegetables and staples. Over the last six quarters, we have launched and scaled products in electronics, beauty & make-up, pet care, and toys & games and we will continue to invest behind opportunities in newer categories as well," it added.

Blinkit’s domination of the quick commerce segment is quite a turnaround from the time when the company hurtled from one crisis to the other before it was acquired by Zomato. Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, Tata BigBasket are the other companies in the space.

Zomato acquired Blinkit for $568 million in 2022. Its improved performance has pushed Blinkit’s implied valuation to a staggering $13 billion, according to Goldman Sachs analysts. Year-on-year, the valuation grew over 6X.