Blinkit’s inventory-led model takes aim at Amazon

From convenience to infrastructure

Blinkit, the quick commerce arm of Eternal, has moved well beyond ten-minute grocery runs. Its dark store network expanded to 2,443 outlets, up from 1,544 in June 2025, and net order value grew 86 percent year on year to Rs 17,132 crore. The business now accounts for roughly 76 percent of Eternal’s adjusted revenue, making it the group’s centre of gravity rather than a side bet.

The more structural change is how Blinkit stocks its shelves. The platform now owns close to 90 percent of the inventory it sells, a sharp shift from around 3 percent earlier, when it operated largely as a marketplace connecting third-party sellers to buyers. Owning inventory gives Blinkit tighter control over availability, pricing and margins, and it is the same operating logic that underpins large e-commerce retailers.

Assortment is the new battleground

Alongside inventory ownership, Blinkit has widened its catalogue aggressively. It now carries around 80,000 stock keeping units in Delhi-NCR and roughly 50,000 across the top seven cities, a range that starts to look less like a corner store and more like a general merchandise retailer. To support that depth, per-store investment has roughly doubled to about Rs 2.5 crore from Rs 1 crore, reflecting larger formats and more working capital tied up in stock.

Profitability remains early. Blinkit reported an EBITDA margin of about 0.6 percent and has guided toward a steady-state target near 6 percent. Rivals are still spending heavily, with peers reporting substantial losses as they chase scale, which is part of why Eternal’s leadership has argued that the era of deep discounting is close to its limit.

What it means for brands

As Blinkit takes ownership of inventory and broadens assortment, the relationship for suppliers starts to resemble selling into a modern trade retailer rather than listing on an open marketplace. That means buying teams, planogram decisions, fill-rate expectations and negotiated margins become central, and share of shelf is won through commercial terms as much as advertising spend.

The competitive read is that quick commerce and e-commerce are converging. With around 80,000 SKUs and next-hour delivery, Blinkit is positioning against Amazon’s core proposition of selection, not just against grocery apps. For operators, the practical response is to plan Blinkit as a strategic account with its own commercial calendar, not as an incremental add-on to a marketplace strategy. The brands that treat availability and assortment planning here as seriously as they do for a large retailer are the ones likely to hold shelf as the format scales.