Zomato’s acquisition of Blinkit has currently primarily focuses on 10-minute grocery deliveries, but it could be eyeing a bigger role for the quick commerce startup.
Zomato is looking to take on Amazon and Flipkart by delivering new categories of products including electronics through Blinkit, ET reports. Zomato is looking to build its own supply chains to directly source branded products and manage stock, which will eventually be delivered through Blinkit in 10 minutes. Zomato has reportedly had conversations with individual brand owners for various categories to stock up inventory.
Zomato will reportedly not directly own any inventory, but instead manage the flow of products from D2C brands. It was also in talks for an acquisition of logistics firm Shiprocket, which works with many D2C brands. Zomato already has a stake in Shiprocket, but the company currently isn’t keen on being fully acquired by Zomato. Zomato, however, has pressed on, and leased one warehouse each in New Delhi and Mumbai to support Blinkit’s ecommerce push.
There have been indications that Blinkit is looking to move beyond delivering only groceries. Last year, Blinkit had launched a service which provided users with print-outs in 10 minutes. Blinkit had also delivered newly launched iPhones to customers in a pilot in Delhi-NCR. Blinkit has also been delivering festival-specific items on special occasions, such as soft toys on Valentines Day and kites on Makar Sankranti.
And these items can end up adding a lot more to Blinkit’s bottom-line than just groceries. The grocery business is brutal for having razor-thin margins, but margins are a lot bigger in products like electronics and other goods. If Blinkit can end up delivering more such goods, it can not only increase its average order values, but also help improve its profitability numbers.
But it isn’t as though Flipkart and Amazon will sit idly by as Blinkit begins delivering all manner of items in 10 minutes. Flipkart already has a program in which it offers same-day delivery for certain items in 20 cities, and Amazon also has drastically cut down delivery times, especially for its Prime customers. But Blinkit could mount a challenge of its own through its non-grocery push. And if Blinkit can reliably deliver all manner of items in 10 minutes, it can end up taking away plenty of marketshare from both Amazon and Flipkart in the coming quarters.