How 'Everything delivered in minutes' works

As the new year begins, the festive spirit of year-end celebrations remains fresh in our minds. While India was immersed in celebration, quick commerce platforms were busy meeting consumer demands, delivering everything from chips and ice cubes to grapes for New Year's Eve parties. However, quick commerce isn’t just a one-day phenomenon, it’s a rapidly growing market in India. According to Statista, the quick commerce sector in India is projected to generate over $5 billion in revenue in 2025.

But beyond the impressive growth and success stories of quick commerce platforms, the real question lies in understanding the role of dark stores.

The term ‘dark store’ refers to a retail fulfilment centre or warehouse that functions like a traditional store but is not open to the public. It is specifically designed for online orders, serving as a hub for picking, packing, and dispatching goods for delivery.

These specialised facilities, designed exclusively for fulfilling online orders, are the backbone of platforms like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart. According to the latest data from India Briefing, leading quick-commerce platforms like Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, and Zepto together manage approximately 1,200 dark stores across major cities in India.

How do these dark stores operate, and what enables them to achieve lightning-fast deliveries within 10 to 15 minutes? To uncover the answer, I visited a nearby Blinkit dark store in Ranchi's Lalpur area, close to my home.

Ranchi currently has one mother hub and five dark stores running, with the sixth dark store set to open very soon. The mother hub is located in Namkum, a market town 10 km east of Ranchi city, and serves as the main hub for replenishment. It is 7 km away from the Lalpur's dark store.

The general groceries section of the dark store, each shelf has a sticker with a unique code and barcode ID, indicating the specific products on the shelf and their location

The last time I visited Ranchi, around July 2024, I downloaded the Blinkit app just to check if the service was operational in my area. However, it was not available at that time.

The moment I stepped in, I immediately felt the fast-paced environment required to deliver orders within minutes. Delivery personnel were busy collecting their assigned orders, while dark store staff hurriedly picked items to fulfil customer requests. The constant buzz of notifications with siren-like alerts sounding almost every minute, amplified the sense of urgency in the atmosphere.

Initially, the entire process, from picking products to handing them over to delivery personnel seemed a bit complex to me. However, after spending just a few minutes observing, I realised how well-organised and synchronised the operations were at the dark store.

Spanning an area of nearly 3,000 square metres, the entire dark store was temperature-controlled, with a dedicated cooling and freezing room for perishable items, such as dairy and meat, as well as beverages.

Temperature-controlled cold room for vegetables

When we place an order from home, it first appears on handheld devices at the dark store, where dark store operators promptly accept it. Each product's image is displayed on the device along with a unique code at the top, which guides dark store pickers to locate the product and its exact position within the dark store.

Handheld device with a code in yellow at the top

The device is also equipped with a barcode scanner that ensures only the correct product is scanned, guaranteeing accuracy and minimising errors during the picking process. Once the correct product and specified quantity are collected, the dark store picker scans the product's barcode, causing the item to be cleared from the device and the next product in the order to appear.

Dark store picker scanning the barcode of the product

I also asked a few questions to Siwanshu Mishra, Area Head of Jharkhand at Blinkit, who shared that the dark store's peak hours are typically in the morning and evening. In the morning, peak time is usually between 6 AM and 11 AM, while in the evening, it tends to be between 5 PM and 11 PM.

The total number of deliveries per day varies across dark stores and depends on the location. However, on an average day, the number ranges from 500 to 700 per dark store, while during occasions like New Year or festivals, it becomes busier and exceeds 1,000 deliveries per dark store.

He also mentioned that the average order preparation time, from picking the product in the dark store to handing it over to the delivery personnel, is about 2 minutes.

Currently, the serving radius of Blinkit in Jharkhand is between 2.5 to 3 km, with deliveries typically completed within 10 minutes.

Mishra said that the goods inside the dark stores are primarily supplied by the mother hub, which acts as a central warehouse or distribution centre. Most of the inventory requirements are fulfiled by the mother hub, while some products are also sourced from local vendors.

Deep freezing room for products like ice cream

Replenishment for all dark stores in the city happens daily in the morning. If there are any further product requirements later in the day, replenishment is supplied accordingly.

What I also noticed was that at any given time, there were usually around 60 delivery personnel waiting to pick up orders at the dark store. Most of them were using their own bikes for deliveries.

Blinkit currently operates in Ranchi from 6 AM to 12 AM. Discussing the challenges of managing delivery services in the city, Mishra highlighted traffic as the biggest obstacle, which may lead to delays in deliveries.

He also shared that, given the positive response from customers, there are plans to expand the existing dark stores in Jharkhand.