To expand its play beyond the grocery business, Zomato-owned Blinkit is now looking to introduce a café feature that would allow users to order snacks and drinks. According to reports, it has planned the pilot launch for later this month with selective cities with quick deliveries of samosas and sandwiches, among others.
Items that are time-intensive to prepare, like pasta, and noodles, among others, will also be included, depending on consumer appetite. The new offering will compete for head-on with Zepto Cafe and Swiggy’s ‘Cafe’, which recently entered the market with an offer for delivery of snacks as well as beverages. Swiggy Cafe services include a range of beverages such as coffee and milkshakes sourced from brands such as Blue Tokai and The Whole Truth.
Pure Play in the category of quick deliveries of snacks was launched by Zepto Cafe in Mumbai in 2022, and this one uses a hybrid model, with branded pre-prepared food items besides the non-branded ones. Sources said this means average order values have jumped; the users buy snacks and beverages along with groceries, but specific revenue for Café from Zepto has not been disclosed.
Fast-commerce ventures have, in the past six months, been aggressive about expansion and diversifying product lines in line with growing consumer demand. Swiggy Instamart and Flipkart Minutes recently dipped their toes into categories as varied as electronics, beauty and grooming goods, pet care items, toys, and small kitchen appliances.
Blinkit had a recent performance where it reported a hefty rise in gross order value, which grew to ₹4,923 crore in Q1 FY25—a 130% rise from last year’s sum of ₹2,140 crore in the same quarter. On a sequential basis, it is 22.2% higher than ₹4,027 crore in Q4 FY24.
Blinkit currently operates 639 dark stores across the country. The company’s daily GOV per store has risen to₹10 lakh as against₹6 lakh across 383 stores earlier. The business aims to have 2,000 dark stores by the end of 2026 and then become profitable.
The gross order value for the big quick commerce players such as Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart will likely touch $10 billion by the financial year 2025-26. Brokerage CLSA has come with this statistic that will have big quick commerce players as elated as they are eager to step beyond groceries and markets in Tier 2 and Tier 3.
