Ecommerce
Eternal lifts Blinkit target to 3,500 stores by FY27
308 net adds take the network to 2,751; smaller-city payback now looks solid enough for merchants to plan inventory deeper.
Ananya Rao, Editor··4 min read
Blinkit NOV hit ₹20,940 crore, up 22 per cent sequentially, while revenue climbed 94 per cent to ₹19,152 crore. Cities covering 96 per cent of NOV are already contribution-positive. Management cited better unit economics in smaller geographies and a calmer competitive set for the faster rollout, with a further 5,000-store goal by FY28-end.
Dark-store managers in tier-2 towns now see shorter payback windows, letting them stock higher-velocity SKUs without the earlier cash drag. A rider completing 40 orders a day in a new Indore or Coimbatore dark store can clear contribution faster than the metro cohort did two years ago, tightening the P&L for franchise-style operators.
Improving store payback in smaller geographies lets Eternal accelerate the Blinkit rollout.
Zepto and Instamart face denser coverage pressure in the same catchments; kirana suppliers lose share on high-turn groceries as Blinkit owns more inventory. Food-delivery margins at Zomato stayed steady at 5.5 per cent of NOV, giving Eternal room to fund the push.
Watch the festive window through mid-November for order-value spikes and the next quarterly filing for actual store-open run-rate versus the new 3,500 target.