How to Build an Instant Grocery Delivery App Like Blinkit?

Marketed as “India’s last-minute delivery app,” Blinkit has become a huge success story in the qCommerce market. Formerly known as Grofers till 2021, the delivery business started operations in 2013. It was acquired by Zomato in 2022.

Blinkit locks horns with Instamart, which is, in turn, owned by Zomato competitor, Swiggy. Nonetheless, newer delivery businesses like Zepto – a Soonicorn – and Dunzo – backed by Reliance – are taking the Indian market by storm and might be soon entering the global stage, but for now, it’s all about Blinkit and Instamart.

In this blog post, we will put Blinkit and its business model under the microscope. We will also know how to develop a delivery business like Blinkit. Prior to that, though, we will know a little more about the instant delivery service.

What is Blinkit?

Blinkit is an Indian rapid delivery service known as Grofers until 2021. Founded in 2013 by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar, the instant delivery provider operates across India, covering 23 major cities that include Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, and Vadodara.

In addition to groceries, it delivers fruits and vegetables, household supplies, personal care, and other items in its vast catalogue of 7000+ items.

During its early days as Grofers, the on-demand delivery service started providing services across Delhi NCR and later expanded to cover other regions of the country. Today, it serves 20+ major cities across the most populous country in the world.

Staying justified in its cause of making fast online delivery possible, Grofers reorganised itself as Blinkit and adopted an inventory-based business model.

Blinkit Acquisition by Zomato

The Indian food delivery giant Zomato announced an all-stock acquisition of Blinkit on 24th June 2022. It was completed on 10th August 2022 for a whopping $568 million.

Consumers can make purchases by visiting the Blinkit website or using the web app on their mobile devices. They can also order from Blinkit via the Zomato app.

(Zomato) Blinkit vs Instamart (Swiggy)

Owning similar businesses to give a run for money to competitors isn’t something new in the corporate world. All major business conglomerates like Apple, Google, and Microsoft do it all the time.

Both Zomato and Swiggy are neck-to-neck competitors in the Indian food delivery market segment. These 2 are the prime competitors in the Indian grocery delivery market wars.

While Swiggy took over Instamart (10th August 2020) to cover the grocery delivery business, Zomato purchased Blinkit (completed the acquisition on 11th August 2022) to keep up with its archrival.

While Blinkit focuses more on under-10-minute delivery, Instamart focuses more on quality product packaging. Blinkit has a dedicated website while Instamart doesn’t. Nonetheless, Instamart provides services in more areas than its competitor.

Blinkit Business Model

Unlike other business models, the Blinkit business model comes with a twist. The original business model didn’t perform too well for the online delivery business and as such, the instant delivery service has to come up with a better alternative, which turns out to be an inventory-based business model. Let’s know about each one of the two, one at a time:

The Original Business Model

Starting out as Grofers, Blinkit was initially an on-demand delivery service focusing on daily-use items. It was a hyperlocal delivery service that prioritised convenience all the while bridging the gap between local retailers and buyers. The three important parts of Blinkit’s business model are:

1.Buyers

The company started to make it convenient for customers who don’t want to actually visit a marketplace for purchasing everyday items. This includes users of all age groups and types, including employed professionals, elderly people, the sick, and students.

2.Local Sellers

Blinkit works with local vendors, mainly with sellers that have little to no marketing available. The on-demand delivery service helps them to expand their reach and allows them to make doorstep deliveries without any dedicated delivery staff.

In exchange for their efforts, the local vendor pays a commission fee that is anywhere between 8 to 15% of their product value to Blinkit.

3.The Delivery Team

The instant delivery service divides regions covered into neighbourhoods, with each neighbourhood having assigned specific delivery agents and marked vendors.

These delivery teams ensure that the stores partnered with Blinkit are able to deliver day-to-day articles to clients in the shortest time possible.

The Switch to an Inventory-Based Business Model

The original business model of Blinkit, as Grofers, gained less popularity than what it was meant to. It was successful, but not as per the expectations. Consequently, it shifted its business model to an inventory-based model.

Interestingly, the two business models aren’t completely different. In fact, the inventory-based model is an extension of the original model with the introduction of an inventory system, and therefore, the name.

Unlike the original plan – where the ordered items are delivered straight from the store – the items are first moved to a local warehouse, where they are scrutinised for quality. The items are packed and sent to the customer only after the items successfully pass the quality checks.

How does Blinkit Work and Make Money?

At present, Blinkit is present in over 20 cities. In these cities, Blinkit has store partners almost every 2 kilometres.

The quick online delivery service lets customers order from a wide catalogue of 7k products and guarantees a 10-minute delivery, although it might take a little longer in certain cases like when it’s raining or during peak traffic hours. Nonetheless, it is fast.

It claims to prepare an order for dispatch in less than two minutes to ensure rapid delivery of ordered items. Blinkit has worked extensively on upgrading its tech and enhancing the efficiency of its in-store planning, which helped them to hasten its packaging and delivery times.

The journey of a product from a warehouse to a consumer’s desk is extensive. It involves suppliers, vendors, logistics, delivery partners, and more. This is where Blinkit comes in and makes money by providing services required for small vendors.

When customers place orders on Blinkit, via its mobile app or website, it presents them with different brands and stores available. The instant delivery service charges 8% to 15% to the vendors in exchange for their services.

To diversify its revenue streams, the online grocery delivery business has been investing in new and established brands.

Blinkit Business Model Canvas

How to Make an App Like Blinkit?

Developing an app like Blinkit requires you to leverage the latest mobile app development technologies. Here is the step-by-step process for creating an app like Blinkit:

1.Decide Your Value Proposition

Deciding the value proposition is important for the success of any business idea. The key value proposition for an instant delivery business would be fast delivery, but you can also add others as well. This could include premium packaging, 24×7 availability, et cetera.

2.Choose What You Want to Deliver

Please note that although Blinkit in 2023 provides a wide range of products, it started out as a food delivery platform back in 2013. Therefore, you need to start small.

Think carefully about what you need to start with. You can expand your catalogue over time. Therefore, don’t rush. Research well and then come up with a decision.

3.Choosing the Technology Stack

The decision of choosing a tech stack depends on the platforms that you’re targeting and the type of app that you wish to build.

In the technology stack for developing a mobile app, you need different tools for front-end, back-end, database, security, and so on.

There are several programming languages, mobile app development frameworks, and other tools that make it easier for your development team to work and develop a relevant mobile app to pair with your online food (grocery) delivery business.

Ensure to underline all your mobile app development requirements to make the best pick among your available mobile app development options.

Take home our Comprehensive eGuide on Mobile App Development in 2023.

4.Build a Mobile App

Mobile is the leading space for doing business today. It outshined desktop traffic a long time ago. Today, mcommerce has become the biggest form of ecommerce.

Therefore, irrespective of your business niche, you must be available – reliably and fully prepared – on mobile devices. The best way to do so is by developing a mobile (or web)app.

You can do so on your own or hire a dedicated development team to help you with the project. You need to add:

• An admin panel for facilitating operations for business owners.
• A customer app from where buyers can place orders.
• A merchant/vendor panel or mobile app that allows business partners to take control of their offerings and their visibility over the platform.

After creating the mobile app, you need to test it rigorously to ensure that it has as few bugs as possible.

5.Launch Your Mobile App

Once you’ve completed building your instant delivery app, it’s time to release it. Before releasing the app, ensure that the bugs are kept to a minimum and you have the right features added to your app.

If you want to ensure that you don’t build an app that has no market then you can first opt for building a minimum viable product. It will help you launch your product without spending so much on features other than the most required.

To check the technical feasibility of your project, you can also opt for developing a proof-of-concept document.

Conclusion

Blinkit is a huge success in the rapid delivery market. Being acquired by Zomato is a testament to its success. The Indian grocery market wars are not going to seize anytime soon as it is estimated to grow even bigger in the coming years.

Regardless of your geographical location, you can start an instant delivery business or something similar by following in the footsteps of Blinkit or other quick commerce businesses.

You can enlist an experienced mobile app development company like Apptunix to help you develop a relevant mobile app and release it quickly to start business operations.