Reliance Retail accelerates quick-commerce push, dark store network reaches 600

Reliance Retail is doubling down on India’s fast-growing quick-commerce market, as it accelerates investments in dark stores, logistics, and customer acquisition to challenge established rivals such as Zomato-owned Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart.

The company’s quick-commerce arm, JioMart, now delivers to over 5,000 pin codes across 1,000 cities, and is registering 42% quarter-on-quarter growth in average daily orders, 200% higher than a year earlier, according to Chief Financial Officer Dinesh Taluja.

Reliance Retail reported 18% year-on-year growth for the quarter ended September 2025. The company opened 600 new dark stores during the period, expanding its total network to more than 3,500 grocery outlets nationwide.

“We are quickly scaling up our quick commerce offering pretty aggressively,” Taluja told analysts at the company’s quarterly earnings call. “Once confident of our model, we began communicating our proposition, speed, transparency, best pricing, and widest assortment, and it’s resonating well with customers.”

Pivot to speed

JioMart’s quick-commerce expansion marks a significant shift from its earlier grocery delivery model, which relied on next-day fulfilment. As consumer expectations changed and rivals established 10- to 30-minute delivery benchmarks, Reliance re-engineered its logistics network to meet the new standard.

“Consumers have evolved, and instant delivery has become the norm,” Taluja said. “We pivoted from scheduled deliveries to sub-30-minute fulfilment to match competition.”

Reliance said it is using its vast offline network to expand quick commerce across electronics, fashion, and accessories. In electronics, Reliance has enabled 30-minute delivery of grab-and-go assortments from its stores in the top ten cities. The company’s online fashion arm, Ajio Rush, offers products with 30-minute delivery in 300 pin codes across six cities.

The Ajio Rush model, Taluja said, has seen “strong uptake and high conversions,” with lower returns and higher average selling prices than traditional e-commerce orders.

Catching up on scale

Quick commerce has become one of the fastest-growing channels for Reliance Retail, now contributing about 20% of total retail revenue, up from 18% a year ago. Reliance added 6 million new transacting customers in the quarter, a 120% increase over the previous quarter.

JioMart’s expansion comes amid a fierce race for dominance in India’s $45 billion e-grocery and convenience market. Blinkit, now a core part of Zomato’s strategy, has been adding stores aggressively and is nearing profitability, while Swiggy Instamart continues to scale with smaller order sizes and localised assortments.

Reliance has been involved in quick commerce since the segment took off in 2021. It invested and was the largest shareholder of quick commerce startup Dunzo.

Reliance, however, is positioning itself as the broadest quick-commerce player, spanning more categories and geographies than its peers. With an existing offline footprint and deep supply chain integration, the company is betting that scale and assortment will offset its late start.

Taluja said the company’s strategy remains focused on omnichannel integration, using its physical stores to power online fulfilment and vice versa. “We’re neither an offline nor an online player,” he said. “What matters is whether we capture enough customer spend, regardless of where the purchase happens.”