Swiggy Instamart’s delivery on order value, take rate trail Zomato, Blinkit
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Swiggy Ltd’s food-delivery business saw a sequential rise in its average monthly transacting users to 14.9 million in Q3FY25 from 14.7 million. This compares with the quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) drop in Zomato Ltd’s user base to 20.5 million from 20.7 million.
While it is hard to identify specific reasons for the divergent trends seen in the customer base of the two rivals, it is possible that Swiggy’s 10-minute food delivery service Bolt launched in October might have helped it in adding new users. Bolt already accounts for 9% of overall food deliveries. If Bolt shows continuous growth, it should help address another problem Swiggy faces: higher variable expenses, mainly delivery costs.
The management indicated in the Q3 earnings call that Bolt has lower delivery cost due to shorter last-mile delivery as the service is restricted to two-kilometer radius from a restaurant. This should boost its contribution margin of 7.4%, which is 110 basis points lower than Zomato’s. Swiggy’s inferior profitability is despite having a higher take rate of 25% as against 24.3% of Zomato.
One basis point is one-hundredth of one percentage point. Swiggy’s management is optimistic that the income tax reduction announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 should lead to higher disposable income, thus boosting discretionary spending, which could provide impetus to the food delivery business. It believes that the gross order value can grow by 18-20% year-on-year over FY26 as well.
A higher average order value (AOV) generally leads to higher profitability, with delivery costs remaining the same. AOV is a key metric for quick commerce. Instamart’s Q3 AOV, though higher by 7% q-o-q at ₹534, is much lower versus ₹707 of
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