Flipkart Minutes bets on Bharat, plants 90 of 1,000 dark stores in tier II/III towns
Walmart-owned Flipkart Minutes has scaled to 1,000 dark stores across 130+ cities, with half of new openings in tier II/III markets like Arrah, Muzaffarpur and Siliguri. The non-metro pivot targets larger basket sizes and cheaper real estate as Blinkit (47%), Zepto (24%) and Instamart (22%) crowd metros.
Flipkart Minutes has scaled to 1,000 dark stores across 130+ cities, with 90 in tier II/III markets, betting on non-metro quick commerce where larger basket sizes and lower real estate costs improve unit economics versus metro-focused rivals.
Why this matters
Confirms UBS-flagged trajectory of 800 new dark stores by end-2026 and aligns with Flipkart and Amazon's broader quick commerce fulfilment build-out, with Tier-2 now the explicit growth lever.
Store-opening activity steady at 297 signals over the last 90 days.