Reliance Retail’s December quarter performance has sharpened focus on a question that now sits at the centre of the quick commerce race: what will it take for the country’s largest retailer to emerge as the segment leader.
The company in its analyst call underlined the scale it has already achieved in quick commerce. It said daily orders had touched 1.6 million by the end of December, making it the second-largest player in the category.
That compares with Blinkit’s 2.6 million daily orders during the quarter and Swiggy Instamart’s 1.1 million orders in the September quarter. Reliance’s network now spans more than 1,000 cities, supported by over 800 dark stores and around 1,200 existing retail outlets used as fulfillment points.
Reliance to build a novel hybrid-model
Unlike venture-backed rivals that rely almost entirely on purpose-built dark stores, Reliance is pursuing a hybrid model that blends dedicated facilities with its vast offline retail network. The company said this reduces capital intensity and improves unit economics by leveraging procurement scale and existing inventory.
But analysts say that model, while capital-efficient, introduces operational complexity that could determine whether Reliance can truly lead the category.
“A dark store is an engineered environment where every rack is placed to minimise picker travel time,” Pradyumna Nag, founder of Prequate Advisory, said. “Picking from a retail shelf, where customers are also browsing, is inherently inefficient. It introduces inventory friction — the system says in-stock, but a walk-in customer has it in their cart.”
What did Satish Meena say?
Satish Meena of Datum Intelligence echoed the concern. “In a retail store, 5-10% of inventory is in customer baskets at any point. Plus, you only have 1-2 minutes to pick and pack in a typical dark store. That becomes challenging in a retail environment. Sub-30-minute delivery may be possible, but 10-15 minutes becomes really difficult,” he said.
Time-definite delivery is critical in quick commerce, particularly in metros. Analysts point out that late-evening demand, when traffic is low and basket sizes are higher, contributes disproportionately to profitability. “The golden window is post 10 pm,” Nag said. “That window accounts for 10-15% of volumes but a much larger share of profits.” Retail stores, constrained by local operating hours, often struggle to tap this demand.
Reliance, however, said that its economics differ materially from pure-play rivals. CFO Dinesh Taluja said the quick commerce business turned contribution-margin positive by the end of the December quarter, aided by procurement scale and sourcing efficiencies that smaller players cannot replicate.
Fruits and vegetables account for nearly a third of orders, the company said, helping drive higher purchase frequency. Inventory that does not move through quick commerce can also be sold through walk-in customers, reducing wastage and dead stock.
By comparison, Blinkit ended the December quarter with 2,027 dark stores and reported its first adjusted Ebitda profit of Rs 4 crore, with contribution margins of 5.5% of net order value. Swiggy Instamart, with over 1,100 dark stores, reported negative contribution margins of 2.6% in the September quarter.
Where Reliance may have a structural advantage is geographic reach. Its quick commerce operations already cover around 1,000 cities, compared with roughly 200 for Blinkit, 140 for Instamart and about 70 for Zepto. Flipkart Minutes plans to expand to 80 cities by April, while Amazon Now remains limited to a few urban centres.
Reliance is also sitting on a large, under-tapped user base. The company has over 378 million registered retail customers, many of whom have not yet used quick commerce. Analysts say converting even a fraction of this base could materially shift market share.
Still, scale alone may not be enough. The company’s consumer app has faced criticism for glitches and inconsistent service, and rivals have spent years refining logistics, demand prediction and rider management systems.