Swiggy Launches Offline Store To Experience Their Products Physically

Instamart, Swiggy’s quick delivery service, has launched an experiential store in Gurugram as the quick commerce sector evolves and shoppers look for new ways to engage with products.

The Bengaluru-based company has introduced its first Instamart-branded mini experiential store, allowing customers to physically see and handle items available on the platform.

Instamart Launches Its First Experiential Store in Gurugram

These experiential stores are designed to operate in and around residential societies.

The stores will be opened, operated, and managed by sellers, similar to how Instamart’s dark stores function.

Under this model, sales revenue from the experiential stores will go directly to the sellers.

This differs from the regular Instamart model, where payments are first made to Swiggy and later transferred to sellers after deducting the company’s commission.

The company has clarified that these outlets are not full-fledged retail stores but small experiential formats.

Limited Product Assortment Sets Instamart’s Experiential Stores Apart

The product range in these stores will be limited, with approximately 100 to 200 stock-keeping units.

This is significantly lower than the 15,000 to 20,000 SKUs typically stocked at Instamart’s dark stores.

Each experiential store will measure around 400 square feet in size.

This makes them roughly one-tenth the size of a standard 4,000-square-foot dark store.

The main product categories in these stores will include fresh fruits and vegetables, pulses, newly launched products, and direct-to-consumer brands.

At present, Instamart is operating this format only in Gurugram.

The company has not disclosed whether it plans to continue or expand this experiential store model.

Swiggy has not responded to queries regarding the initiative.

According to people familiar with the matter, this move does not indicate a shift toward an omnichannel retail strategy for Instamart at this stage.

The pilot comes shortly after Swiggy raised Rs 10,000 crore through a qualified institutional placement, which received strong investor interest.

Swiggy has stated that around half of the funds raised through the QIP will be used to expand its quick commerce business.

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