Blinkit Growth: Zomato’s Big Q2 Breakthrough

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Growth Lessons from Varun Gupta
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Growth Lessons from Varun Gupta on FMCG, D2C Shift, and AI Future

In a candid conversation with Varun Gupta, Chief Growth Officer at Bombay Shaving Company, I uncovered powerful insights on the FMCG to D2C shift, GenZ consumer behavior, and the rising role of AI and automation. This blog explores why execution still matters, how consumer expectations are changing, and what it takes to build growth with both technology and human touch.

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Blinkit growth big breakthrough is redefining how quick commerce scales. Once Zomato’s quieter sibling, Blinkit has now become the company’s primary growth engine contributing ₹11,679 crore in net order value this quarter alone.

With 2.1 crore monthly transacting users and 137% YoY NOV growth, Blinkit is outpacing Instamart across every key metric. The secret? Focus, not FOMO. While competitors chased every category, Blinkit doubled down on delivery fees, non-grocery expansion, and operational sanity proving speed can coexist with profitability.

Backed by a ₹12,000 crore war chest and a positive EBITDA trajectory (-1.4% vs Instamart’s -17.3%), it’s showing how sustainable scale actually looks. Blinkit’s steady execution and customer loyalty engine make it not just a category leader, but a masterclass in disciplined growth for every D2C founder watching the quick commerce playbook evolve in real time.

The Z Flywheel-Zomato’s Quiet Revolution

Last year, few would’ve bet that Zomato’s brightest growth story would come not from food delivery, but from groceries and gifting. Yet here we are. Blinkit-once the experimental quick commerce bet — is now the company’s biggest growth engine.

This quarter’s results tell the story clearly. Blinkit clocked ₹11,679 crore in total net order value (NOV), growing 137% YoY, while Instamart trailed at ₹5,100 crore with 71% growth. It’s not just growth; it’s profitable growth. With adjusted EBITDA at -1.4% of NOV (vs. Instamart’s -17.3%), Blinkit is proving that operational efficiency and customer delight can coexist.

blinkit growth

The Real Battle Isn’t Speed-It’s Sanity

Quick commerce started as a race for minutes. 10-minute delivery promises. 24/7 dark store expansion. Billboards shouting “faster than hunger.” But Blinkit did something radical — it slowed down to scale up.

Instead of chasing vanity metrics, it optimized for orders per dark store-a real indicator of sustainability. Blinkit now handles 1,471 orders per store per day, compared to Instamart’s 1,025. That’s 43% higher utilization, with nearly the same order value (₹524 vs ₹488). In a low-margin business, that’s the difference between burning cash and printing confidence.

Focus Without FOMO

While rivals tried to out-deliver each other, Blinkit played a different game. It expanded into non-grocery essentials-electronics, gifts, beauty-turning quick commerce into “quick convenience.” Delivery fees were optimized, not discounted away.

The platform also leaned into tentpole events-Rakhi, Diwali, Valentine’s-building cultural moments into its commerce rhythm. Instead of trying to be everything, Blinkit became the go-to for anything now.

Zomato’s Flywheel in Motion

Here’s what that focus unlocked:

  • 2.1 crore monthly transacting users on Blinkit (vs. 1.1 crore on Instamart)
  • 22.3 crore total orders
  • A combined ₹23,000+ crore in net order value across Zomato + Blinkit
  • Over 8.8 lakh riders earning through the Zomato ecosystem

The synergy is obvious-Zomato brings customers, Blinkit brings frequency. Together, they form what analysts are calling The Z Flywheel-a loop of daily engagement, efficient logistics, and compounding loyalty.

The Blinkit Growth Blueprint for Founders

Every D2C founder can learn from this playbook:

  1. Find your one growth engine. Focus beats diversification in early scale stages.
  2. Build sanity into systems. Sustainable ops > shiny headlines.
  3. Monetize experience. Delivery fees aren’t friction; they’re filters for value customers.

Blinkit didn’t reinvent commerce-it just removed the chaos from it.

The Bigger Picture

With a ₹12,000 crore war chest and a positive trajectory, Blinkit isn’t just winning-it’s rewriting the definition of growth in Indian quick commerce. Zomato’s pivot from plateauing food app to flywheel-led ecosystem marks a shift every operator should study.

In a market obsessed with speed, Blinkit showed that patience compounds faster.

Jagdeep Singh

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