Profitability in the Quick Commerce (q-comm) industry is set to be under pressure for a longer duration with players spending a minimum of around ₹98-100 to service each order, a recent report by Bernstein has found.
Competition among q-comm players is not likely to ease soon, and 2027 will see continued competitive intensity as all players target the same customers in the same cities, it adds.
The current fulfilment costs of Blinkit and Instamart (the listed players) is around ₹116-118 per order and even with all efficiency levers such as increasing the orders per rider per day, batching the orders etc., the costs may only fall to around ₹98-100 per order, Bernstein estimates. Long-term profitability must thus come from higher basket values, more advertising revenue and higher-margin non-grocery products, the research firm points out.
As for the strategy of various q-comm players, the report notes that Zepto has adopted a different strategy from rivals like Swiggy’s Instamart and Eternal’s Blinkit.
Dark stores
Zepto is leveraging dark-store density and aggressive discounting to drive repeat purchases from existing users, rather than chasing new users, thus aiming at lower costs. Dark stores refers to the small-size stores that pack the products for the delivery partners to deliver.
Bernstein’s analysis showed that Zepto has around 1,255 dark stores, second only to Blinkit’s 2,222, as of April 2026. But Zepto’s stores are concentrated in only 61 cities, versus 243 for Blinkit and 128 for Instamart. Thus, Zepto averages around 21 stores per city, double that of its peers.
This density allows for shorter delivery distances, faster delivery and lower rider costs, Bernstein says.
Active user base
Similarly, the monthly active user base of the apps also throws up interesting findings.
After increasing across 2024 and 2025, Zepto’s monthly active users ended at around 58 million, as of March 2026, after seeing a peak of 60 million in August 2025. Blinkit, on the other hand, has continued its rise from roughly 55 million in July 2025 to 77 million in March 2026. Instamart MAUs is at around 20 million, but this reflects only the standalone Instamart app, and Instamart is also accessed from within the main Swiggy super-app.
However, when one looks at sessions per week, Zepto’s user engagement has gone up from 7.5 sessions/user/week in August 2025 to 10.5 by March 2026, the highest in the industry.
Published on May 21, 2026
