Reliance Retail activates 600 dark stores to boost hyper-local delivery

Reliance Retail has operationalised over 600 dark stores pan-India and plans to add more to enhance its coverage of less than 30-minute deliveries across its extensive network.

Addressing an analyst query after quarterly results, Reliance Retail CFO Dinesh Taluja said JioMart is better placed with an extensive physical store network and dark stores being set up in select locations.

Reliance Retail has already operationalised 600-odd dark stores and is also investing in more to amplify its play in quick hyper-local deliveries, in which JioMart registered a 42 per cent Q-o-Q growth and 200 per cent-plus Y-o-Y growth in average daily orders.

"JioMart continued to operate as the fastest-growing quick hyper-local commerce platform, with operations extending across 5,000 pin codes and serviced by over 3,000 stores in more than 1,000 cities," said an earnings statement of the parent entity, Reliance Industries.

Its e-commerce platform JioMart, which is competing with quick commerce players such as Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and BigBasket, probably has become the largest in the country with its vast network and strategically located dark stores.

Six months before, in the March quarter, Reliance Retail had said its hyper-local deliveries covered 4,000 pin codes across the country.

Moreover, Reliance Retail has also extended its quick hyper-local deliveries to the electronics and accessories categories, promising 30-minute delivery across 10 cities.

"JioMart achieved a significant surge in customer acquisition, with 5.8 million new customers added. This represented a Q-o-Q growth rate of 120 per cent," it said.

The platform's seller base grew 20 per cent Y-o-Y, and the live catalogue selection was further expanded to augment the customer choice.

Reliance Retail, which had 19,821 stores, operating retail operations at 77.8 million sq ft area pan-India, is significantly scaling it with plans to open dark stores to expand the coverage area.

Earlier, Reliance Retail had said that as part of the strategy, the JioMart app is using its Reliance Retail store network, delivering within a three-kilometre radius.

However, it has set up dark stores to service those pockets, wherever there is a genuine requirement, there is enough volume, and it cannot service it within 30 minutes from Reliance Retail stores.

In the September quarter, Reliance Retail Venture Ltd (RRVL), the retail arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, reported an 18 per cent increase in its gross revenue to Rs 90,018 crore and its profit after tax also went up 21.9 per cent to Rs 3,457 crore.

For the financial year 2024-25, Reliance Retail had reported a gross revenue of Rs 3.30 lakh crore.