‘We will expand 10-minute delivery to 100 cities by March 2022’

Why did the Grofers rebrand themselves as Blinkit?

We wanted to make 10-minute delivery (model), but the demand was not just for 10-minute grocery delivery. Rather, it was for a 10-minute delivery for everything. So, with a focus on how we bring as many products to customers as possible in less than 10 minutes, we opted for rebranding. It says we’re not just there for groceries anymore; We are essentially about instant instant commerce.

In line with your aspirations to diversify e-grocery, what steps is Blinkit taking? Do we see significant GMV now being driven by non-grocery items?

Right now, we have around 250 odd-stores and we are working with various (store) partners to bring in stock units that are relevant to their communities or localities. For example, in the north, it is the season of weddings and people need some things at the last minute. So, we have a wedding shop that’s live. We also sell gold coins and silver coins using our platform. We are figuring out how to collect all the data to deliver the right products to customers. And our being a technology platform, we are trying to utilize the process of providing relevant products to the customers when they need them. It goes far beyond groceries. (The wedding store went live on Blinkit’s platform by the third week of November, as it moves to non-grocery items.)

How are you seeing your 10-minute grocery model expand amid the competition?

The 10 Minutes (Delivery) offer is fully operational in the top 8 cities, but we want to expand fairly rapidly. The roll out continues in the cities. We are launching today in Ludhiana and Mohali; Chandigarh is in the pipeline. We plan to expand to at least 100 cities with a 10-minute delivery model by March 2022. By the end of January next year, we will have around 550 stores (supporting 10 minute delivery) on our platform. We have around 14000-15000 delivery partners and we are hiring 1000 riders in a week. The salaries of our partners are also high and will be increased further in future. We are investing very heavily in improving our technology. So we’ve added about 100 people to the technical team over the past 4 months and we’ll continue to expand the technology facility as I believe that underlies everything we do.

(Blinkit claims to make over 4 million deliveries within 10 minutes on a monthly basis.)

With tough competition and grocery being a low-margin business, do you see profitability being impacted?

We haven’t felt the heat of the competition yet. We’re already operating profitable, and we think we know the general concept of the business, partly because we’ve been doing this for some time. We have learned a lot to ensure that from day one we were building a sustainable business. How this happens, I am also unsure, but if you ask me am I convinced? So the answer is yes! We are ‘contribution positive’ in some of our cities. The objective will continue to be that our partners have a viable business. We currently have around 14000-15,000 riders, which is still small compared to other delivery peers, but our efficiency is very high.

There is also the usual skepticism towards a 10-minute delivery as to whether it is really needed. What is your take on that?

Customers are overwhelmingly voting that this (10 minute delivery) is something we need. What happens outside of that doesn’t really matter, it’s a matter of the needs of the client.