Swiggy Instamart’s Ad Push Drives Take Rate To 15.2% In Q2 FY25

Swiggy released its second-quarter (Q2) results for fiscal year 2025 on Tuesday, marking its first disclosure since going public last month.

The company's quick commerce division, Swiggy Instamart has shown a consistent increase in its take rate, according to the reported data.

As per the official statement, both the take rate (calculated as Adjusted Revenue/Gross Order Value, GOV) and the contribution margin for Instamart have been growing steadily over the years.

Instamart's take rate rose from 12.2 per cent in Q1 FY24 to 15.2 per cent in Q2 FY25 while its contribution margin improved, narrowing to -1.9 per cent in Q2 FY25 from -7.5 per cent in Q1 FY24.

Instamart's take rate comprises fees for platform and enablement services provided to merchant partners, advertising revenue from brand partners and charges from users including delivery fees, convenience fees and other related costs.

Swiggy has credited the rise in its quick commerce platform's take rate to growth in advertising.

"Growth in advertising has been a key driver for take-rate expansion, as brands and our platform. Increasingly attractive to reach out to consumers," as per Swiggy.

Looking ahead, the platform anticipates steady-state take-rates and contribution margins to grow to 20-22 per cent and eight to nine per cent, respectively, resulting in an Adjusted EBITDA margin of four to five per cent in the upcoming quarters.

Instamart is currently operating in 54 cities across India with 609 dark stores as of September 2024. Swiggy has disclosed plans to increase its dark store count by 30-35 per cent by March 2025.

"We expect to more than double our active dark store area to 4 million sq ft by March 25 (versus 1.5 million sq ft on March 24), through a combination of new store additions and larger sized stores," Swiggy stated in a BSE filing.

In Q2 FY 25, Instamart's adjusted revenue grew by 27.2 per cent to Rs 513 crore on a quarter-on-quarter basis. In comparison, its competitor Blinkit, owned by Zomato, posted adjusted revenue of Rs 1,156 crore for the same period.

Swiggy Instamart's Gross Order Value (GOV) reached Rs 3,382 crore in Q2 FY 25 while Blinkit's GOV stood at Rs 6,132 crore in the same quarter.

Karan Taurani, Senior VP at Elara Securities noted that Instamart's take rates increased by 76 basis points quarter-on-quarter, reaching 14.5 per cent while the Average Order Value (AOV) saw a 2.5 per cent rise QoQ, reaching Rs 499. However, Instamart's take rates were 440 basis points lower than Blinkit's 18.9 per cent in Q2 FY25. Similarly, Instamart's AOV of Rs 499 was 24 per cent lower than Blinkit's AOV of Rs 660 in the same quarter.