Blinkit "Stole" Zomato's Playbook - Today It Makes INR 1,156 Crores

Ever since Blinkit (Grofers, if you’re Boomer enough) got acquired by Zomato in ‘22, it has been zooming through a growth trajectory, and everyone’s taking notice.

The company made INR 1,156 Crores last Quarter, up from 505 Crores in the same quarter in 2023. It has also cut its losses considerably and is well on the path to profitability over the next few months.

For a company that was doing just 25% of that number before the acquisition (turnover of INR 263 Crores in FY ‘22), what really changed for Blinkit? Was more money always the answer, or did Zomato always have a magic marketing wand to begin with?

I’ve been reading Steal Like An Artist recently, and it makes a really interesting point right off the bat:

That pretty much sums up the Zomato-Blinkit acquisition. Blinkit was growing well - it had gone up to INR 263 crores from INR 200 crores the previous year - but that wasn’t fast enough.

When you’re fighting the likes of Swiggy (Launched Instamart in 2020, and the largest player at the time) and Zepto (2021), you need the plot armor to save you. Enter Zomato.

Zomato (founded 2008) didn’t just come in with the INR ~4500 Crores for Blinkit, they also brought with them their playbook - their expertise, their experience, their learnings, and their connections.

Zomato was Blinkit’s “bade bhaiya” in all respects, and it shows. You have the same ad concepts, similar storytelling, same social media language.

The integration between Zomato and Blinkit is so tight-knit now that you don’t see Blinkit as a different entity.

And yet, users like you and I perceive them to be two different companies, and they are. But how?

Both companies follow the same playbook to generate revenue and brand loyalty, and they are technically the same company, but Blinkit still has its own element.

The trick - if you can call it that - lies in masterful execution of the “Steal“

Copy someone so well that others think you stole it - then actually steal it, but add your own soul to it. Blinkit does this really well.

You see that Blinkit calls Zomato its “bade bhaiya“, and just by that positioning, it takes away the negative notion from your head that stealing is bad. Is taking something from your elder brother even called stealing?

The friendly banter between Blinkit and Zomato adds to the illusion.

And it’s not like Zomato’s pioneering this strategy of stealing. Marketers have been stealing and copying since the days of yore.

Titan is another great example of this. Under Titan, you’ve got Titan (which has Raga, Nebula, Octane), Sonata, Fastrack, Tanishq, Zoya, Mia, Caratlane, and so many more companies, you’d lose track.

And each of these brands has their own identity. Tata, and Titan, do exemplary stuff in stealing from each other what works, and then passing it down to their own siblings, just adding a little tadka here, an extra spice there, and voila - new brand!

Now, what are you going to do this information? Let me know!!

P.S: Recommending Steal Like an Artist to everyone. It’s a great short read.

P.P.S: These newsletters are going to get more frequent, I promise :)