"10-Minute Delivery Has No Economics": Ashneer Grover On BlinkIt Row

BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover took to Twitter to highlight the problems that have bitten delivery firms Blinkit/Zepto. BlinkIt reduced the fixed payouts per delivery from Rs 25 to Rs 15 resulting in thousands of delivery executives staging a protest at Delhi-NCR. BlinkIt had to shut down some of its stores in Gurugram.

The former Shark Tank India judge in a post said that the 10-minute delivery model or the entire domain of quick commerce has no unit economics. He wrote on Twitter, "BlinkIt / Zepto - problem is not Rs 15 for delivery against Rs 50. Problem is 10Min delivery has no economics - low ticket size and low margin can never be solved through forced low delivery cost. BlinkIt journey : 90 Min (bull run) -> Next day (bear run) -> 10 Min (bull run) -> ??"

Check out the post here:

BlinkIt / Zepto - problem is not ₹15 for delivery against ₹50. Problem is 10Min delivery has no economics - low ticket size and low margin can never be solved through forced low delivery cost. BlinkIt journey : 90 Min (bull run) —> Next day (bear run) —> 10 Min (bull run) —> ??

— Ashneer Grover (@Ashneer_Grover) April 16, 2023

Mr Grover's tweet soon went viral and triggered an array of reactions from the social media users. A user wrote, "The last time I ordered it took me more than an hour to realise that they are not gonna deliver. I bought the items from a nearby shop. The waiting time on the panel kept showing 6 mins from the time I ordered, till canceling it."

Another user commented, "Both, do not always give a 10-minute delivery. During peak hours it touches 30 minutes. Not sure how it makes sense."

The third user commented, "Absolutely... No sense, no economics, plus nobody looks at it from a safety point of view which is the biggest loser. Snacks are something one can get an urge and might want to order and get delivered in 20 mins but why veggies, why butter?"

Zomato's grocery unit Blinkit in an email said it had introduced a new structure for riders that compensates them based on their effort and was engaging with them to reopen the shut stores.

Blinkit competes with other big delivery firms, including top retailer Reliance-backed Dunzo, Tata's BigBasket and SoftBank-backed Swiggy in India's fast-growing grocery market.