Blinkit has introduced a premium grocery service called Gourmet in select pincodes of Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, and Mumbai, offering higher-priced food items such as artisanal breads, cheeses, and ozone-washed produce. These products are priced 20-30% above mass-market brands and are stocked in about five dedicated dark stores, according to medianama.com.
The launch of Gourmet follows Blinkit's first profitable quarter, though profits were minimal at just 0.3% of order value, significantly below the company's 5-6% target. The move aims to increase the average order value (AOV), which has remained flat at around Rs 525 in Q4 FY26. Blinkit's co-founder Deepinder Goyal described the flat AOV as a "natural and intended consequence" of a strategy focused on more frequent, smaller orders. The company lowered the free-delivery threshold for Gold members and promoted meals under Rs 250, doubling monthly transacting customers from 13.7 million to 27.2 million year-on-year, but without increasing basket size, as detailed in Eternal's Q4 FY26 shareholder letter.
This strategy reflects a shift in Blinkit's business model to prioritize customer volume growth through smaller, frequent purchases rather than increasing individual order values. Introducing premium products through Gourmet is one of the few remaining levers to boost order value amid this trend. The separate network of dark stores dedicated to Gourmet allows Blinkit to cater to a segment willing to pay more for quality and specialty items, potentially improving margins in a highly competitive grocery delivery market.
Blinkit's Q4 FY26 shareholder letter highlights the company's focus on balancing growth and profitability, with the Gourmet launch representing a strategic effort to raise average order values. The company reported an average monthly transacting customer base of 27.2 million, up from 13.7 million the previous year, underscoring the scale of its customer engagement.