Blinkit vs Zepto vs Swiggy Instamart for Selling: Honest Comparison for Brands

While choosing a Blinkit, Zepto, or Swiggy Instamart, you should consider comparing all the important metrics. 

This blog covers what each platform actually looks like for a seller: the numbers, the trade-offs, and a clear framework for deciding which quick commerce platform to go first. 

Blinkit Vs Zepto Vs Swiggy Instamart At A Glance

Here's where all the three platforms stand on the parameters that are most important to sellers.

Market Share Zepto Vs Blinkit Vs Instamart: What That Means For Sellers

A platform's market share tells you how many active buyers are on the app, how many dark stores are pushing orders out, and how many real chances your SKU has to convert.

Blinkit currently controls around 45% of India's quick commerce market. 

That comes from having the most densely packed dark store network across high-order-frequency metros, a deep fold into Zomato's existing user base, and years of operational head start over its rivals.

Zepto's 29% share doesn't fully capture how competitive it actually is in the cities it's focused on. 

In Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, Zepto has concentrated its dark stores in younger, urban micro-markets. Which gives it an outsized presence among the 22–32 age group specifically.

Swiggy Instamart is at roughly 25–27% and takes a structurally different approach from both.

Instead of racing to build standalone dark store infrastructure at the same clip, Instamart leans into Swiggy's existing logistics backbone and its large restaurant-delivery user base to drive quick commerce orders.

📌 Blinkit's geographic coverage is consistent and reliable across Tier 1 metros. 

Zepto is strong in its priority cities but coverage thins out in secondary markets.

Instamart has broader reach in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, a direct benefit of its restaurant-delivery footprint.

Dark Stores Network & Coverage: Blinkit Vs Zepto Vs Instamart

For sellers, dark store coverage determines how much of a city their products can actually reach. 

Thin coverage means poor SLA reliability and, for many buyers, near-zero visibility.

Blinkit currently has approximately 2,100 dark stores across India, with plans to add another 900 by March 2027. That's the densest network in the quick commerce space.

Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Pune account for a large portion of those locations. In high-density metros, Blinkit places multiple dark stores within the same neighbourhood. 

This shrinks the delivery radius per store and improves both speed and in-stock reliability at the pin code level.

Zepto operates around 1,100–1,200 dark stores, packed into Tier 1 cities with high youth demographic density. The gap is most visible in Tier 2 cities and newer metros, where Blinkit has expanded faster.

 For broad household reach, its deeper network covers more pin codes. 

But for younger urban consumers in pockets like Koramangala or Bandra, Zepto's dense local presence can be just as effective despite its smaller footprint.

Swiggy Instamart runs 1,000+ dark stores, with a wider geographic spread than either competitor. It has a presence in several Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets where Blinkit and Zepto haven't yet built density. 

For brands targeting smaller cities or running a national distribution play beyond the top eight metros, Instamart's footprint can cover ground the other two leave open.

📌 Before locking in your platform priority, verify actual coverage in your specific target pin codes.

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Commission Model of Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart

On Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart, commission structure is different in how the rate is determined.

Blinkit charges commissions usually in the 2–18% range, tied to price bands within each category. 

A product priced below ₹500 attracts a lower rate. The same product in the same category, priced above ₹1,200 comes under higher commission, up to 18% for FMCG, and up to 25% or more for premium, gourmet, or lifestyle categories.

For example, if you sell a product on Blinkit, priced 249 rupees, charges will be around 80 rupees. 

Warehousing and last-mile delivery charges are layered on top of that, pushing the total platform take to 30–35% of the selling price for most sellers. 

Include return handling fees, damage and shrinkage charges, and storage fees, and the effective cost of selling on Blinkit adds up faster than the headline commission rate suggests. 

Zepto doesn't publish a rate card. You get a chance for commission negotiation directly with the Category Manager assigned to your product vertical. 

So, the commission rate depends on your brand's offline revenue, category competitiveness, and how much Zepto wants your product on the platform at that moment.

The working range is from 10% to 25%. Smaller D2C brands usually take the standard rate and revisit once they've built enough platform volume to have a conversation. Brands pulling ₹5 crore or more in monthly offline demand have real negotiating room. 

Swiggy Instamart's commission structure range is 15–25%, varying by category and product type. 

Like Zepto, exact rates are determined through category-level discussions rather than a fully public rate card, though Instamart's terms tend to be more standardised for smaller sellers with less negotiating leverage. 

Instamart also bundles some fulfillment and handling costs into its headline commission instead of itemizing them, making cross-platform cost comparisons less straightforward.

📌Blinkit's model is more transparent and independently verifiable. Zepto's structure is more negotiable but less predictable. 

For a brand with strong offline credentials and negotiating leverage, Zepto's flexibility can produce better effective rates. 

Instamart is between the two, moderately negotiable, but with less upside for brands without an established Swiggy relationship or strong category pull. 

Setup & Listing Fee on Quick Commerce: Blinkit Vs Zepto Vs Instamart

Setup and listing fees are where sellers most often miscalculate their actual cost of entry into quick commerce.

Blinkit charges ₹25,000 per SKU per state as a mandatory listing fee and that applies to every product you list, across every state you want to sell in. 

The fee is returned as advertising wallet credits with a 12-month expiry and usage restricted to Blinkit's own ad platform.

Zepto's fee structure carries a comparable financial commitment. Instead of per-SKU charges, Zepto bundles onboarding costs into a single package, around ₹5–6 lakh. 

The upside: cost predictability, you know your entry spend. The downside: there's no performance guarantee. 

Placement is allocated, but how well that placement actually converts depends on category competitiveness, audience fit, and whether your packaging holds up at thumbnail scale.

Swiggy Instamart's entry costs are lower in absolute terms, there are no onboarding fees.

 For smaller D2C brands, Instamart is the more accessible platform to get started on because the initial financial commitment is lighter.

📌 Blinkit's itemised model gives you more control. You choose how many SKUs and states to launch with, making it easier to scale gradually.

 Zepto's bundled model offers predictable upfront costs but less flexibility once you're onboard. 

Instamart does not charge onboarding fees.

Ad Dependency & Ad Spend On the Platforms

Blinkit's advertising is auction based: search placement, category page visibility, homepage banners. Whoever is willing to pay the most per click or impression takes the position.

For a D2C brand spending ₹2–3 lakh a month on ads, competing against a national brand investing ₹20–30 lakh, Blinkit's auction can be challenging.

Where Blinkit stands out is attribution. Seller Hub provides near real-time, SKU-level performance by city, showing which placements convert, which dark stores respond, and where ad spend is underperforming. 

For brands that optimise campaigns regularly, that visibility is a significant advantage.

Zepto's ad model is built differently. Ad placement is bundled into the onboarding package. Your ₹5–6 lakh entry cost includes allocated visibility slots, influencer integration, and category placement for an agreed initial period.

Zepto’s Jarvis is a primary interface for all brand campaigns on the platform. Which helps in intelligent audience targeting based on actual shopping behaviour.

Zepto's standout ad format is Swap & Save, which promotes your product when a shopper adds a competitor's item to their cart.

One extra cost to consider is the Atom analytics subscription at ₹30,000 per month. It provides real-time competitor and category insights but isn't included in the ad bundle. 

For brands that rely on data to optimise campaigns, it becomes an additional recurring expense beyond the headline package price.

Instamart offers sponsored listings, banner placements, and category-level promotions, with costs that generally run lower than equivalent placements on Blinkit.

Your advertising spend depends on your own budget.

For brands with smaller budgets, lower auction competition can translate into greater visibility for the same spend. 

The trade-off is that Instamart's ad platform offers less advanced targeting and reporting. Lower competition in some categories may also reflect lower shopper traffic.

Instamart also extends product visibility across the broader Swiggy app, including restaurant discovery and order-tracking screens. 

For food and beverage brands, that added exposure can help drive impulse purchases.

📌 All 3 have built their discovery architecture around paid placement. 

Organic ranking is a function of sales velocity and SLA compliance, and building either of those requires paid visibility to get off the ground in the first place.

Onboarding Timeline and Getting Listed

Blinkit's seller registration is self-initiated through their Partner Portal, and the document checklist is: GSTIN, PAN, address proof, and an FSSAI licence if you're listing food or beverage products.

After document verification, Blinkit runs a physical stock and operational review before anything goes live. The full onboarding process usually runs 4–8 weeks.

Zepto follows a similar 4–8 week window from application to live listing. The timeline tends to stretch when category managers are juggling multiple new onboardings at once, which is common during high-growth quarters.

Every brand entering Zepto does so through a category manager. That person controls what gets listed in their category, negotiates commercial terms, evaluates your NPI proposal, and decides whether your brand fits their assortment strategy. 

Document requirements are similar to Blinkit's. 

Swiggy Instamart's onboarding runs through Swiggy's Partner Portal and is widely considered the most accessible entry point of the three. Document requirements follow the same framework: GSTIN, PAN, FSSAI where applicable. 

Instamart's onboarding team does category fit assessments, and listings in competitive categories like packaged foods, beverages, and personal care go through an internal review before approval. 

Timeline from application to live listing usually runs 3–6 weeks, marginally faster than Blinkit and Zepto in standard cases, though category-specific reviews can push that out.

📌 Across all three platforms, onboarding timelines are roughly in the same range. The brands that go live on time are almost always the ones that got their documents and packaging compliance sorted before they ever initiated the process.

Launch Support for New Brands on Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart

Blinkit's support is on a ticket-based system. It is built to resolve problems. 

For operational queries like a settlement discrepancy, a packaging rejection, or a dark store stock transfer issue, the system works. 

Blinkit also has a knowledge centre that covers most aspects of the onboarding process and documentation, which can answer a lot of questions before you even need to raise a ticket.

Zepto's Category Manager model gives you a named contact who is directly accountable for your brand's performance on the platform. 

In the first 30–60 days post-launch, that relationship is worth more than most sellers anticipate. Your Category Manager can guide initial inventory positioning. 

Swiggy Instamart onboarding support is handled through a dedicated partner success team rather than a pure ticket system.

And new sellers are usually assigned a point of contact during the initial listing phase. 

📌 All three platforms assume a baseline level of quick commerce readiness that many new brands simply don't have going in. If issues come up during launch, each platform will support you within their own system. 

Difference in Zepto, Blinkit and Instamart Audience Profile

Blinkit's user base skews toward established metro households, dual-income families, working professionals in the 28–45 age range. They are the buyers with a high repeat purchase frequency on daily essentials. 

These are consumers who have woven Blinkit into their regular grocery and household replenishment routine. 

They know what they want, search for it directly, and convert quickly on familiar categories and brands.

For FMCG brands, daily essentials, packaged food, personal care staples, and gifting SKUs, this audience profile works strongly in your favour. 

Zepto's audience skews younger, urban consumers in the 18–32 age range, with a strong Gen-Z core in metro markets. 

These buyers are more trend-responsive, more influenced by social proof and influencer recommendations. 

They are also far more open to trying brands they've never purchased before. Discovery is a genuine part of how they use the platform.

Swiggy Instamart's audience profile is the broadest of the 3 and the hardest to pin down precisely. Its user base inherits significant overlap with Swiggy's food delivery audience, urban millennials who order meals frequently and extend that behaviour to grocery and essentials. 

This gives Instamart a strong foothold in food-adjacent categories: packaged snacks, beverages, condiments, and ready-to-cook products perform well because the buying mindset is already food-oriented. 

Outside food adjacency, conversion rates are less predictable. Instamart also has comparatively stronger penetration in Tier 2 cities than its competitors.

📌Before deciding your platform, answer one question clearly: who is most likely to buy your product in the next 30 days, and where do they already exist? 

A 35-year-old in Gurugram restocking household staples shops on Blinkit. A 24-year-old in Koramangala trying a new oat milk brand shops on Zepto. A 29-year-old in Indore ordering dinner who adds a snack pack to their cart shops on Instamart. 

Payment Cycle & Reliability Difference in Platforms

Blinkit has a weekly payment cycle for most sellers. 

Revenue from orders fulfilled in a given week settles into your registered bank account within 7 days, after deductions for returns, damage claims, and platform fees.

Zepto's standard payment cycle is twice a month, with settlement timelines that vary by contract. Some sellers report a 15-day lag, others closer to 20 days from the close of the billing period. 

For a new and small scale brand, a 20-day lag means carrying 20 days of revenue as a receivable at any given point. At thin margins and high platform costs, that working capital requirement adds up fast.

The variability in payment terms is a known friction point in seller communities. Unlike Blinkit's relatively standardised weekly cycle, Zepto's settlement schedule depends on what was negotiated with your Category Manager at the time of onboarding.

Swiggy Instamart follows a bi-weekly settlement cycle broadly similar to Zepto, with payments usually processed every 14 days. 

Seller feedback on Instamart's payment reliability is mixed, settlement timelines are generally adhered to. 

📌No platform currently offers real-time payment tracking visible to sellers outside of their respective dashboards. 

Zepto & Blinkit Return/Damage Deductions 

These deductions work largely the same way across Blinkit and Zepto.

When a customer reports a damaged product, raises a return request, or a dark store flags a pick error that results in a damaged unit, that cost gets passed back to the seller. 

Deductions are applied to the settlement for the period in which the incident is recorded and  not necessarily the period in which the original order was placed. That timing mismatch can create reconciliation headaches if you're not tracking it closely.

Swiggy Instamart's return and damage deduction framework follows the same seller-bears-cost model, but with an additional layer of complexity around inwarding rejections. 

When stock arrives at an Instamart fulfilment point and is rejected during the quality check, damaged packaging, labelling discrepancies, or barcode read failures, the cost of that rejection, including return logistics, is usually passed to the seller. 

Deduction transparency on Instamart's seller dashboard is the weakest of the three platforms, and reconciling settlement statements manually against order data is a common operational burden reported by Instamart sellers across categories. 

No platform absorbs damage that occurs during dark store picking or last-mile delivery as a default. 

📌Across all three platforms, packaging integrity is your first line of defence against deduction leakage. Products that withstand dark store handling, scan reliably, and meet labelling requirements reduce rejection and damage rates at the source.

Inventory Holding Expectations on Blinkit Vs Zepto

Blinkit’s inventory management is your responsibility. The platform gives you the data; the execution is entirely on you. That model gives you control, but it demands operational bandwidth.

You monitor stock levels across dark stores through Seller Hub, raise replenishment orders when levels drop below threshold. And coordinate inbound logistics to the relevant fulfilment points. 

Zepto's inventory model is structurally different. Your stock is held in Zepto's warehouse facilities and managed within their fulfilment system. Rather than being seller-tracked through a self-serve dashboard. 

That removes some of the day-to-day replenishment monitoring burden, Zepto's operations team handles pick and pack but it introduces a different set of constraints.

The most consistently reported of these is inventory exit. Sellers who want to discontinue a SKU, scale back their platform presence, or exit Zepto entirely run into significant friction when trying to retrieve unsold stock. 

Swiggy Instamart's inventory model is closer to Blinkit's in structure. Sellers are responsible for replenishing stock to designated fulfillment points, and inventory levels are tracked through the partner dashboard. 

The operational demand is similar: you need to monitor velocity by location and coordinate inbound logistics proactively to avoid stockouts. 

📌Read the inventory exit and return clauses in your contract on all three platforms before you sign. The entry terms are visible; the exit terms are where operational risk tends to accumulate quietly. 

Category-by-Category: Which Platform Performs Better?

If an ABC brand winning on Blinkit in Delhi-NCR can underperform on the same platform in Bengaluru. While Zepto's concentrated dark store presence in specific micro-markets gives it outsized strength in cities where Blinkit's network is thinner. 

Platform choice depends on city-level decisions as well as category-level.

Here's what seller experience and platform data actually show:

📌One rule that overrides the table above: check dark store density in your specific target city before finalising platform priority. 

A category that skews Blinkit nationally may have a weaker Blinkit presence in Ahmedabad or Kochi than Zepto or Instamart does. Build your platform decision on your actual city cluster. 

Packaging and Brand Readiness

Blinkit publishes some of the most detailed packaging guidelines in Indian quick commerce.

Requirements covering barcode placement, label specifications, structural packaging standards, and regulatory compliance markers. Stock that fails a dark store compliance check at inbound gets rejected before it ever goes live. 

Zepto takes a different approach to packaging compliance. There's no hard rejection gate at inbound. Instead, standards are enforced through operational performance metrics, SLA scores, pick error rates, damage claim rates. 

Packaging that doesn't meet the bar doesn't get turned away at the warehouse door. It gets listed, starts generating fulfillment problems, and those problems quietly stack up against your seller account metrics over time.

Swiggy Instamart's packaging compliance framework combines elements of both approaches. Inbound stock goes through a quality and compliance check at Instamart's fulfillment points. Similar to Blinkit's inbound gate, covering barcode readability, label accuracy, and packaging integrity.

📌All the brands must consider barcode placement, label specifications, structural packaging standards, and regulatory compliance markers. These are mandatory for all the platforms.

Private Label Competition in Blinkit Vs Zepto Vs Instamart

All three platforms are actively building private label portfolios. 

Blinkit's private label portfolio is developing but less prominently positioned than Instamart's Noice. Blinkit's EBITDA-positive model is structurally less dependent on private label margin extraction than either competitor. 

This reduces the platform-level incentive to aggressively favour owned brands in placement decisions. 

Zepto is operating toward an explicit 20-20-20 private label target: 20% of platform revenue from owned brands, 20% gross margin contribution, across 20% of total SKUs. Currently active in meat and staple categories, Zepto's private label portfolio is less developed than Instamart's but explicitly strategic in its direction.

Swiggy Instamart has the most developed private label strategy of the 3. Noice, Swiggy's own FMCG brand, now covers 200+ SKUs across 13 categories including bread, paneer, snacks, and household products, with Supreme Harvest covering fresh produce. 

Noice receives prominent algorithmic placement and competes directly against third-party sellers in multiple high-frequency, high-volume categories. 

📌In differentiated categories such as functional nutrition, premium personal care, speciality food, private label competition is less developed across all three platforms.

Know which category you're in and which platform's own brand is active in it before you decide where to invest your listing fees.

Why Platform ROAS Numbers Are Not Comparable

All three platforms report ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) using MRP not the actual transaction price after discounts.

Here is what this means:

Your product has an MRP of ₹500. On Blinkit, during a promotional period, it sells at ₹340 after a platform discount. 

Your Blinkit dashboard reports ROAS calculated against ₹500, showing returns approximately 47% higher than your actual transaction value. 

⚠️A 7x ROAS on your Blinkit dashboard is actually 4.7x ROAS on real transaction value. 

For a product with 65% gross margin, a real ROAS below 4x-6x is often contribution-negative when platform commission, logistics, and advertising costs are deducted.

This is not unique to one platform. It applies across Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart. The discrepancy is larger on Zepto and Instamart where promotional discounting is more frequent as part of the platform's customer acquisition model.

📌Never make a scaling decision based on the ROAS number shown in your seller dashboard. Extract actual transaction values from your payment reconciliation statements. Calculate ROAS manually using net transaction value divided by ad spend. 

Decision Framework to Choosing Between Zepto, Instamart & Blinkit

While choosing the Quick commerce platform, match your current situation to the right starting point, validate your unit economics, then scale.

The First Platform Test:

How Confetti Helps Brands Across All 3 Platforms

At Confetti, we work with D2C and FMCG brands to get them listed and perform on quick commerce platforms: Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart included.

Onboarding on Quick Commerce and Success

Our approach to getting brands q-commerce ready runs across three areas:

✅ Onboarding Preparation

We build out a brand's digital footprint and packaging to improve the chances of getting accepted by major platforms from the first application itself.

✅ Listing and Pricing Consultation

We study category-specific pricing on each platform, then create the product photography and creative assets that buyers actually see when they're scrolling and deciding.

✅ Ongoing Performance Optimisation

We work on listing improvements and in-app advertising to help brands stay relevant as market trends shift and seasonal demand changes.

📌One of our pet-care brand clients moved from a 2.4x ROAS to 6.5x over six months, with GMV growing 5x in the same period. That shift came from working across inventory management, SKU-level targeting, campaign structure, and getting the organic-to-paid balance right. 

Packaging Design for Quick Commerce Products

At Confetti, we work with brands at the packaging design stage with quick commerce requirements built into the brief.

Our focus areas:

✅FSSAI and MRP Compliance in the Label
We design product labels with every mandatory regulatory element integrated from the start, FSSAI number, MRP, ingredient list, best-before format, positioned for legibility and designed to stay visible through handling, stacking, and scanning.

✅Barcode Placement for Dark Store Scanning
Barcode positioning isn't an afterthought in our briefs. We place barcodes for shelf-stacked accessibility so they're operational from the moment stock hits the dark store floor.

✅Product Images Built to Q-Commerce Specifications
We produce the three required product images per SKU: front, back, and lifestyle, formatted to exact technical specifications: minimum 1000x1000px, white background, correct aspect ratio. Every image is tested at 200x200px mobile thumbnail scale before we sign off.

✅Screen-First Label Design
On a category page, your primary product image is doing all the selling. We design labels that hold up at both scales, the full physical pack and the mobile thumbnail a buyer sees while scrolling.

📌 Brands designed by Confetti are already live on Blinkit, Zepto, Instamart, and other quick commerce platforms. Nutripro is an example of an electronics brand for which Confetti built the complete brand system: strategy, visual identity, verbal identity, and packaging, end to end.

FAQs: Blinkit vs Zepto vs Instamart for Selling

Which platform is best for new D2C brands starting out in quick commerce?

Zepto or Blinkit, depending on budget. Zepto has no per-SKU listing fee, making the upfront capital requirement lower (₹5.25–6.25 lakh vs. Blinkit's ₹6.5–8.5 lakh for 5 SKUs). 

Zepto also actively courts D2C brands and its Swap and Save format is the most efficient trial-generation mechanism for brands entering established categories. Blinkit's Seller Hub provides superior seller data for brands that want a strong learning loop from their first 90 days.

What is the commission on Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart?

Blinkit: 2–25% variable by price band and category. Zepto: 15–25% category-negotiated, blended average approximately 22–23%. Instamart: 15–25% plus 18% GST applied on top of the commission amount. 

The GST-on-commission on Instamart makes its effective commission cost materially higher than the headline rate suggests. All three platforms retain 35–50% of MRP when the full cost stack, commission, logistics, advertising, write-offs is modelled.

Which platform gives the best seller analytics and data?

Blinkit's Seller Hub provides real-time, SKU-level attribution by city and dark store, the most granular seller data available on any quick commerce platform in India. 

Zepto's Jarvis console is strong for campaign management and has better targeting control than Blinkit's auction model. Instamart's analytics are the weakest of the three, sellers report difficulty getting clean attribution data and understanding campaign performance without third-party tools.

Is Swiggy Instamart's cross-sell advantage from food orders genuinely useful for brands?

Yes, for food, snack, and beverage brands specifically. 29% of new Instamart shoppers discover grocery products through Swiggy food delivery sessions. A customer ordering dinner is browsing Instamart simultaneously. 

For brands in categories that naturally pair with meals, beverages, snacks, condiments, and ingredients, this organic discovery mechanism generates trials without additional advertising spend. Blinkit and Zepto cannot replicate this through any paid placement.

What is Zepto's Swap and Save ad format and why does it matter?

Swap and Save is an ad placement that shows your product to a customer at the exact moment they add a competitor's product to their cart. The customer has already decided to buy in your category. 

They've selected a competitor. Your ad offers your product as an alternative with a potential saving. This is the highest-purchase-intent advertising moment available on any Indian quick commerce platform.

No other platform offers this format. For D2C brands trying to win customers from established FMCG competitors, Swap and Save is the most commercially targeted trial mechanism available.

Why should I not launch on all three platforms simultaneously?

Budget, inventory, and management capacity dilution. A brand with ₹15 lakh total budget for Q-commerce advertising and ₹30 lakh of inventory can either concentrate that capital on one platform, generating real velocity, algorithm signal, and organic ranking or spread it across three platforms, generating insufficient velocity on any of them. 

The algorithm on all three platforms rewards concentrated early performance. Diluted performance across three platforms is algorithmically invisible. Prove unit economics on one platform first, then expand.

Which platform has the strictest shelf life requirements?

Blinkit requires 90–120 days of remaining shelf life at the time of dark store inwarding, the strictest of the three. 

Zepto and Instamart both require approximately 60% of total shelf life remaining at inwarding. For food brands with shorter shelf lives (bakery, dairy, fresh produce), Instamart or Zepto may be more operationally compatible than Blinkit.

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