Tata Digital-owned BigBasket has spent the past year transitioning from scheduled deliveries to quick commerce. Growth has followed, but so has competition. Co-founder and chief marketing officer Vipul Parekh, in an interview with Anees Hussain, discusses the company’s positioning in an increasingly crowded market, while arguing that its leadership in groceries remains a non-replicable moat.
Where does BigBasket stand on growth and profitability?
We have grown faster than the industry since September, when we moved entirely to quick delivery. FY26 ended with approximately 60% revenue growth. Going forward, annualised growth is expected to be upwards of 60%. We are targeting at least 60–70% in FY27.
We are acquiring over a million new customers every month, with share of new installs upwards of 20%. We are about 8–9 months away from full contribution margin positivity and 18–24 months from Ebitda breakeven. Over a third of stores are already contribution margin positive, and another third will get there in the next 3–4 months.
What is the current dark store count and expansion plan?
We have over 850 stores and will add about 250 this calendar year. We are not entering new cities. The focus remains on the top 25. New stores will be driven by revenue growth in existing markets, not geographic expansion.
Reports suggest metro dark store penetration has reached saturation. Do you agree?
I don’t think that is true. Even in the most penetrated market, Delhi NCR, quick commerce accounts for only 30–35% of the total grocery market. Metro dark store penetration, in terms of today’s potential, is about 70–75%. We still need to grow by 40% just to keep pace with demand. While 90–95% of pincodes are covered, there is headroom for demand-led growth.
What does your AOV (average order value) look like?
We are at upwards of Rs 525, likely the highest in the industry, driven by assortment, with private labels and fresh contributing over 33% of revenue. We expect AOV to settle at Rs 650 over the next 12–18 months. However, we do not believe in adding infinite categories to boost AOVs artificially.
How do you see the competitive positioning playing out?
There are three logical positions in the market. One is price. That’s D-Mart offline, which Zepto is trying to replicate in quick commerce. Two is quality of service. Blinkit has taken that position, avoiding heavy discounts while offering a consistent median assortment and experience. Three is assortment depth, offering things others don’t and indexing on certain categories.
For newer players like Amazon, Flipkart and JioMart, the entry point is price, promotions and free delivery. Without strong incentives, customers won’t try them because the service is not very distinguishable. The real challenge will be retention.
Where does BigBasket sit within that framework?
We are positioned firmly on quality. Two-thirds of this business will still come from grocery even 3–4 years from now. It is the reason users open the app.
We built our entire supply chain for fresh produce, sourcing directly from farms, and have the most dominant share of fresh in the market. Combined with private label, that is our play. Foods, private label and fresh is where nobody will hold a candle to BigBasket.
What is the non-grocery share today and where is it headed?
It is about 10–12% of revenue and could reach 17–20% going forward. While non-grocery will grow faster, grocery will remain the anchor. High-volume electronics like smartphones are difficult. They are price-indexed to Amazon and Flipkart and carry high obsolescence risk. But leveraging Croma gives us an advantage, as we are not building additional dark store space just for SKU depth. Pharma via 1mg is growing, but remains a smaller market. It’s also easier to stock at darkstores because of smaller size.
How has your 10-minute food delivery pilot with Starbucks and Qmin in Bengaluru progressed?
We have not seen significant traction. It is a difficult category, and we are moving slowly. It remains in pilot, limited to certain pincodes in Bengaluru. We will give it a couple more quarters before taking a call on expansion.
What we are seeing is that brand matters. Doing this unbranded, as Zepto tried, does not build confidence, and order values are low. With Qmin, the Taj Hotels’ fast-food brand, we are able to charge higher price points and see better retention. Starbucks coverage is more limited due to even higher pricing. The channel preference is clearly for a mid-priced offering.