Disruptions At Major Blinkit Warehouses Amid Festive Rush & Inventory-Led Pivot

Quick commerce giant Blinkit is reportedly facing operational disruptions at some of its major warehouses due to the festive season rush and the company’s recent pivot to the inventory-led model.

Sources told Economic Times that the disruptions have hit the company’s large warehouses, which feed to its smaller dark stores, in Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra’s Mumbai, and Karnataka’s Bengaluru.

As per the report, the Albinder Dhindsa-led company’s warehouses have stopped accepting inbound orders for its new and pre-launch products till October 31 to tide over these issues. “Due to the ongoing festive season and high warehouse utilisation, our storage spaces are operating at full capacity,” Blinkit said in an email sent to sellers.

Multiple sellers also reportedly said that the disruptions led to them missing out on listing key items for Diwali sales. Another seller reportedly said that time slots for sending goods to these warehouses were running out quickly at large hubs like Haryana’s Farukhnagar and Bengaluru.

Additionally, the issues are said to be impacting smaller players more, with appointment dates for sending inventory running to more than a week.

Meanwhile, a company spokesperson told the publication, “Every year, during the peak festive period, we pause new brand onboarding due to high warehouse utilisation. The pause on trial or launch-awaited product inwarding remains in effect till 31st October 2025, with regular operations resuming on 1st November 2025”.

The Eternal-owned quick platform corners nearly half of India’s quick commerce pie, and competes with the likes of Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, Flipkart Minutes, and Amazon Now. It operates 1,544 dark stores as of June 2025, and plans to scale up this network to 2,000 by 2026-end.

It is pertinent to note that Blinkit transitioned to an inventory-led model in September. Under this, it now directly purchases goods from brands instead of operating as a marketplace. With this, the company aims to tap into the new model to drive growth by introducing new and underserved categories, enhancing margins and optimising its “value mix” for customers.

On the financial front, Blinkit outpaced Eternal’s core food delivery segment in contribution to the parent’s top line. The quick commerce major reported an operating revenue of INR 2,400 Cr in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2025-26 (FY26), up 2.5X from INR 942 Cr in the year-ago period.

The quick commerce major’s loss stood at INR 42 Cr in the quarter under review as against a profit of INR 43 Cr in Q1 FY25.

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