Blinkit had started off by delivering groceries in 10 minutes, but now it seems to have its sights on much more than just that.
Blinkit has begun delivering items as diverse as fans and spectacles in 10 minutes. It has tied up with fans company Atomberg to delivery fans, while it’s tied up with Lenskart to deliver its spectacles and frames. Blinkit had earlier made a splash by delivering Sony’s latest Playstation gaming console in 10 minutes.
The ceiling fans from Atomberg had gone live on Blinkit yesterday. Atomberg founder Arindam Paul had said that the price of the fans would be the same on Blinkit as on other e-commerce platforms. “Now live on Blinkit…lets see how many we sell this summer,” he had posted on X. “Stoked to see how well Arindam and team are building Atomberg. Happy to be a part of their journey,” Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa had commented.
Today Blinkit announced that it would be partnering with Lenskart to deliver its eyewear to users in 10 minutes. “Blinkit customers can now get Lenskart products in 10 minutes. Starting with delivering sunglasses and their Hustlr range (Computer Glasses). Curious to see how Hustlr evolves as a brand over time,” Albinder Dhindsa posted on X, and shared a picture with Lenskart CEO Peeyush Bansal.
Blinkit has been exploring items other than grocery for a while now. The company had begun offering printout services in 10 minutes, which is now live in several cities. Blinkit also sells festival-specific items on special occasions, such as holi colours and Diwali lights. But the company now seems to be actively entering whole e-commerce verticals, and has experimented with selling everything from gaming consoles to fans to eyewear on its platform.
It could be a clever strategy. Nearly all customers would prefer to have their items delivered to them as soon as possible, so a 10-minute wait time for Blinkit could be quite appealing, compared to the few days that traditional e-commerce players like Amazon or Flipkart could take to deliver the same items. Also, Blinkit is primarily used in Tier 1 cities which have the most spending power, so Blinkit can cover a large part of the India’s transacting market by being available in only a handful of locations. And selling high-value items like gaming consoles could help boost Blinkit’s topline.
There are still questions, however, on whether Blinkit can profitably deliver these items within 10 minutes. 10-minute delivery times mean that Blinkit will have to have its inventory spread across several dark stores in a city, and keeping them stocked would require high degree of demand precision and forecasting. Amazon and Flipkart make use of their economies of scale while delivering items cheaply, but Blinkit might find it hard to achieve similar numbers. But Blinkit appears to have certainly changed the delivery paradigm already — when Zepto and Blinkit had been launched, there had been questions over whether anyone needed groceries in 10 minutes. With people now debating whether people will need fans in 10 minutes, Blinkit appears to have not only settled the debate on quick grocery delivery, but seems to be boldly launching into an ever-wider product mix.