Retailers are turning their existing stores into quick-commerce fulfilment centres, taking on Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart while requiring less investment than separate dark-store networks. Vishal Mega Mart, Reliance Retail and Spencer’s Retail are expanding fast delivery through stores they already operate, while startups are taking it into smaller cities.
The shift changes the economics. Pure-play platforms have built dense dark-store networks for faster deliveries, while traditional retailers can use existing outlets and inventory to fulfil online orders. Vishal Mega Mart fulfils quick-commerce orders from 767 of its 819 stores across 520 cities. Of these, 423 are in tier 3 towns, defined as cities with fewer than 200,000 people.
The model is contributing to revenues. Vishal’s registered users crossed 14.1 million in Q1FY27, up 44%, while quick-commerce orders contribute 2-9% of a store’s revenue, with at least 5% in most locations, managing director and CEO Gunender Kapur told analysts. The average bill value is around Rs 800, while 20% of quick-commerce customers are new to Vishal.
Reliance Retail is pursuing a larger version, combining grocery outlets and dark stores with more than 2,500 fashion and lifestyle stores. Its JioMart platform covers 5,500 pin codes, with grocery delivered in under 30 minutes and other categories within two hours. Grocery digital orders rose 116% year-on-year in Q1FY27. CFO Dinesh Taluja said stores offer a wider assortment than typical dark stores and that dark stores operating from existing stores involve no incremental cost.
Spencer’s offers an indication of the economics when volumes are sufficient. Its online arm Jiffy closed FY26 with revenue of Rs 200 crore, up 37%, on 2.6 million orders. With an average order value of Rs 760, it earns about Rs 110 gross margin per order against fulfilment costs of around Rs 98, CEO and MD Anuj Singh said.
The model is spreading beyond large chains. Apna Mart delivers in around 10 minutes from franchise-led neighbourhood stores in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Technology providers are also lowering the entry barrier for regional chains.
Smaller cities could be the opportunity. Emkay Global estimates a tier 2 dark store needs around 800 orders a day to break even, against about 1,300 in tier 1 cities. Existing retailers already have stores, inventory and customers, giving them a cost advantage. But demand still has to generate sufficient order density.
Avenue Supermarts’ experience with DMart Ready shows the limits. The service has been reduced from 25 cities in FY25 to 18 in FY26 and 11 now. Avenue E-Commerce’s sales rose 17% in FY26, but Ebitda fell 43%, resulting in a Rs 307 crore loss, as transport costs rose 34% in markets with weak order density. DMart has stuck to six-hour delivery windows for large-basket orders.
The battle may not be about who delivers fastest, but who can generate enough orders to make quick delivery economical. Existing stores give retailers a head start, but DMart shows that the advantage works only where demand is deep enough.