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Why BlinkIt?

Having never worked on a product before (never been a part of a product team i.e.), I'm choosing BlinkIt as my choice for this assignment for two primary reasons -

1. I have become somewhat of a loyal BlinkIt customer - rather organically. I find it's UI to be quite user friendly and have received good service on most occasions.
2. I have been following the brand, it's founder on social media and have had a few friends who've been a part of the organisation before so I feel a bit more aware of it in comparison to its competitors.

Understanding The Product

According to a study, grocery expenditures account for over 21 per cent of India's economy and the online grocery market in India is poised to grow at CAGR of 20.52% between 2023 and 2027. Safe to say, these are significant numbers for any industry.

When it comes to BlinkIt specifically, the organisation made a well-timed decision of re-branding and altering its business model during the pandemic and promising order delivery in 10 minutes. "Need in 10 minutes? Just BlinkIt!" became an avidly seen ad on YouTube with multiple use cases. Under exceptional circumstances, such as unpredictable weather, peak traffic hours or so, the app mentions slightly delayed deliveries beyond 10 minutes (max. being 14 minutes per my experience and 21 minutes as per another customer interviewed).

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Let's delve deeper into some the brand's use cases, encompassing both what the brand promoted as well as others that users encounter (or developed a habit of) -

• A school-going child declares to their young parent, at the last moment, that they require a certain stationery item for a school project tomorrow.
• A young man, living independently is due to visit his extended family. He realizes at the very last minute that he hasn't got anything along for his little nephew.
• The requirement for a personal wellness/ hygiene product in an unplanned scenario.
• A bachelor (who presumably doesn't have an everyday requirement - thereby a subscription) has ran out of milk in his fridge.
• Long days at work don't allow you to shop everyday fruits and veggies from the local shops.
• A young girl is craving a certain imported/ gourmet snack that she knows isn't available at a nearby kirana store.
• Mid-night ice-cream requirement when the popular ice-cream parlour in towns are shut.
• Impromptu decision of making a certain recipe, the ingredients of which are all/ mostly available at one place.
• It's a festival and you're rather scared of stepping out in an overly-crowded market and be stuck for an hour just to get some fresh puja flowers
• and plenty more...

How to place an order on BlinkIt can be summed up in 3 simple steps (after you've added and selected your saved address - which is the first step one is required to do after signing up.)

Step 1 : Choose product category you wish to shop from (or alternatively search for product.

Step 2 : Browse product selection, choose and add product quantities to the cart.

Step 3 : Click at the bottom of the screen to view cart, add product details and checkout!

And with that, the BlinkIt magic begins!

Now, let's look at some vital stats about the organization -

1. BlinkIt has over 20 million active users per month and 116+ mn keyword searches. Source: https://brands.blinkit.com/
2. 520+ dark stores in 20+ cities. Source: https://seller.blinkit.com/ and https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/blinkit-turns-adjusted-ebitda-positive-in-march-plans-to-add-1000-dark-stores-by-fy25-end/articleshow/110084902.cms?from=mdr
3. Rs. 617/- average order value (JFM 2024) - highest in the category. Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/blinkit-turns-adjusted-ebitda-positive-in-march-plans-to-add-1000-dark-stores-by-fy25-end/articleshow/110084902.cms?from=mdr
4. 50% weekly retention rate and 40% + app open to order through rate. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNIIAty0Sfo

Essentially, the numbers seem to be pretty strong in comparison to its competitors (Zepto, Instamart, BigBasket) that are clocking more losses than the previous financial year whereas BlinkIt has reported a positive spike and reduced losses.

This is especially interesting keeping in mind that BlinkIt, Zepto and Instamart - all operate on a similar Dark Store model which leverages factors like

• data science,
• geographical proximity to order destination
• and human inputs

to optimise stock-keeping, reduce last mile delay and reduce time on cart preparation + packaging.

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As per the company website and my analysis of the app, here's how BlinkIt seems to be making money -

1. Profit margins on goods sold - given that every dark store orders bulk quantities of items sold, it can be assumed that BlinkIt would be acquiring the items at an wholesale rate and gaining the margin made by selling them at it's own calculated discounted price or MRP.
2. Delivery fee - BlinkIt has made it a priority to not offer free deliveries whatsoever and charges a minimum of Rs. 16/- as delivery fee on every order.
3. Handling charges - typically around Rs. 4/- per order
4. Surge pricing during peak hours
5. Small cart charge for orders below Rs. 99/-
6. Product combos/ customization - Combinations like 'pulao veggie mix' (consisting of carrots, peas, beans and cauliflower) and lemon and mint combo for instance, offer more convenience to the customer and higher profit margins for the organisation. Case in point - 100 g of mint is Rs. 27/- and 220 g of lemon is Rs. 50/- where as lemon and mint combo (of 100 g mint - albeit without roots, and 220 g lemon) is of Rs. 82/-
7. Ads on the app - For example - the first placement in a category is a paid position.
8. Home page sponsorship/ roadblock - a brand can claim exclusive space on the home page of the app. For instance, LARAH by Borosil was sponsoring the 'Weekend Flea' section as one opens the app on 8th June 2024.​
9. Category sponsorship - E.g.: Home Decor section was sponsored by/ powered by My Trident.
10. Brand stores - An exclusive page showcasing all products of a brand - a microsite like space for one's brand on BlinkIt
11. and possibly some more...

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With this understanding of the product, let's proceed to next section of the assignment -

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Understanding The User and Ideal Customer Profile

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Here are some pros and cons observed (basis on user reviews on multiple sites and interviews with customers) :

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Pros (Factors in favour) -

• Variety of products, SKUs
• Marketing efforts - billboards, social media content that has been in the spotlight organically
• Convenience and easy to use UI
• Trust factor/ ease of adoption that comes into play with parent co. Zomato
• Range of product categories - provides ease of last minute shopping/ cooking use cases
• Timely promise - promise of delivery within 10 minutes
• Delivery any time - 24 x 7 availability

Cons (Factors against and some in favour of competition) -

• Lack of offers - not so lucrative from a consumer pov in comparison to competitors who offer free delivery with memberships and sign-up discounts.
• Poor customer support - customers have complained of resolutions taking longer than one may expect.
• Replacement issue - often, for perishable products too, BlinkIt expects a customer to return the expired/poor quality product back to the delivery partner in exchange for a replaced item. This can be a tedious and somewhat unpleasant experience for the customer. Riders also seem to be confused about this.
• High delivery fee - users can compare pricing on competitor apps.

General overview is while BlinkIt is want-based for most customers - it's convenience, variety and timely-delivery being the biggest factors, it's pros end up making it a preferred choice in many scenarios and for some customers (especially those who are working and managing their kitchens to some extent), it even ends up becoming need-based from want-based, meaning the dependency on the product often increases over time.

It's also important to note here that while there are a lot of low-frequency use cases for a segment of the audience, these sheer number of such use cases often end up making the same user use the app on a regular basis. Example - house party supplies, last-minute gifting packs, festive items, print-outs, items needed in case of unexpected guest arrivals, healthy/organic/gourmet items not easily available in nearby stores, etc.

With that, let's take a look at the ICPs -

ICP Prioritization

Based on the above, shortlisting ICP 1 and ICP 2 for the rest of the assignment.

ICP 1 because of their high frequency, low adoption curve and an almost need-based requirement of BlinkIt. They are also great adopters of items across categories on BlinkIt and consider using it for party essentials and electronics sometimes - involving higher order values. At the same, they love gaining discounts on day-to-day spends - small savings can matter to them or come across as an AHA moment. Their high amount of content consumption, preference for and a very sizable TAM in tier 1 cities also makes them a priority.

ICP 2 because while their adoption curve is slightly higher than ICP 1, their appetite to pay is the highest amongst the ICPs listed. For them, factors like the time and effort saved, quality, variety of exclusive brands and organic produce matter more than savings. There is definite scope to increase their frequency which is currently in decent favour of the organisation. More importantly, since they don't have childcare responsibilities, have cooks and domestic staff taking care of household chores and have high content consumption time, it increases their distribution potential in my opinion.

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Understanding TAM - How big is the online grocery market and how much market share is available for BlinkIt?

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The quick commerce players — Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy’s Instamart and YC Continuity-backed Zepto — can reach an estimated 25 million households, who are likely to spend an average of 4,000 to 5,000 rupees ($48 to $60) per month, according to Bank of America.

Source: https://www.marketbrew.in/daily-insights/blinkit-zomato-biggest

https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/11/zomato-blinkit-sprints-to-quick-commerce-dominance-in-india/

In fact, according to another report by Goldman Sachs and a JM Financial, BlinkIt has a whopping 46% market share by GMV in the quick commerce category which clearly makes it a market leader.

Sources: https://www.marketbrew.in/daily-insights/blinkit-zomato-biggest

https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/11/zomato-blinkit-sprints-to-quick-commerce-dominance-in-india/

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Designing Acquisition Channels

BlinkIt can be categorized as a organisation in its early scaling stage. With that in mind, let's have a look at the channel selection framework -

Factoring in what can be more valuable/ meaning acquisition channel for the organisation (and a bit of personal knowledge/ strength), the above channel selection framework was prepared.

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Keeping that in mind, here are 2 acquisition experiments I suggest for the ICPs considered -

1. Referral program - relatively lower costs since in-house resources (design, product and data teams) will be integral to developing it without much involvement of an external party. Real-time tracking, scaling and optimization of the referral program to scale can thereby also be doable in-house. I feel a referral program can work especially well for ICP 1.

2. Content loops (and content partnerships) - Content can definitely be leveraged for growth if approached and strategized in the right manner for the chosen ICP. The timelines involved can also be lower in comparison to other channels like product integrations, for instance, and so I feel it can work great for a platform like BlinkIt - especially since the brand is already known for it's witty content language. With the right kind of content loop created, it can serve as a scale-able acquisition channel - especially for ICP 2 - and further build WOM.

Let's delve deeper!

Referral program

A. What's brag worthy? Delivery under 10 minutes. Even within 7 minutes at times!

B. Product platform currency - Currency can be in the form of cashback.

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C. WHERE can we ask a user for a referral? AND WHO can be asked for the referral - what type of customer?

Users who've used the app at least twice a week over a period of a month with consistently good ratings given (between 4-5 stars) can be asked for referrals. They can be declared as BlinkIt Super Shoppers on the app.

Where all?

• At the end of checkout - order-on-the-way tracking screen once order has been placed.
• Communication platforms - WhatsApp and SMS can be used to send referral message to potential new-users by referee.
• Referral amplification channels - WhatsApp and push notifications - BlinkIt being known for its witty notifications can make this an interesting point of contact.
• Payment platforms - For example - as a scratch card reward on GPay.

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D. Discovering the referral - what will it look like and how will users share a referral?

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Sample creatives - user journey starting from order-on-the-way page -

SCREEN 1 - Pop-up alert on awaited order page. Messaging on the lines of - Invite your fam and friends! For last-moment shopping, fresh produce, party planning and so much more. You know us too well, after all! 😀

REFERRAL AMPLIFICATION CHANNEL 1 - If a user doesn't explore the program at first and crosses the pop-up shown in-app, the referral program can be further amplified in the form of a WhatsApp message (with detailed benefits listed) after 1-3 hours after their order has been delivered.

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REFERRAL AMPLIFICATION CHANNEL 2 - If a user doesn't interact with WhatsApp message, they can further be sent a push notification - 2-3 days after the WhatsApp message has been sent with signature BlinkIt-style quirky copy. For e.g. -

💫ZERO is da HERO. More so, since zero delivery charges for life can be your reality! 💫

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SCREEN 2 - Benefits listed of what one can expect from the referral program. A referee can get an increment of 20/ 50 rupees for every additional with the maximum cashback cap being at Rs. 500/- for instance.

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SCREEN 3

SCREEN 4 - BlinkAI Bot - will help a user generate a cool, creative message customized for the kind of potential use the message is being sent to. The AI bot can be basic to begin with and be further nuanced depending on feedback and performance but it can definitely add as in interesting, interactive touch point for the in-app user as well as help in crafting a more personalized and thereby appealing messaging for a potential future user who receives the generated message.

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Share via WhatsApp / Text feature for customer's convenience.

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E. How it will look to a non-user?

To the potential new user -> Referral copy (to be seen by the potential new user) - This will be crafted as per the message approved by the existing user with the help of BlinkAI Bot. The idea will be to encourage existing users to craft the most creative or appealing messages to those they are sending it to so as to increase their chances of the referral being used.

The message that one shall receive will have the copy approved by the existing user + a unique redirection link (deep link) to install and sign-up with the referral.

This 10-minute delivery can be a life-saver. Especially for the snack shopper in you! 😛 Sign up on BlinkIt and explore an INSANE variety of snacks. And I mean gourmet et all! What's more? We both receive Rs. 100 cashback on your first order! I know you love discounts as much as I do! 😍

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<CTA Button on WhatsApp> : Check out BlinkIt!

F. How will referees track their referrals?

Every time a new user on-boards using a referee's referral code, they get a push notification with a celebratory copy mentioning the name of the new user who has on-boarded with their referral.

As they open the app, a celebratory sticker/icon welcomes them on the home page. A 'super referee' badge/ illustration can appear on this pop-up sticker that appears and take a place somewhere on the top-right or top-left of their home page as a continued presence - reminding them of their super referee status. This referee status can be updated with no. of referrals successful. For example, after 3 successful referrals, the illustration/ badge can be labelled 'power referee'. Reference image, for instance -

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These referee statuses can reflect on the leaderboard that users can further feel a sense of empowerment with.

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To see pending referrals, they see an option of 'Referrals Remaining' in their app profile. They can also view it on the page where they decide to share a referral with a new contact (the page that appears after they click on the you're a superhero copy.)

G. How to incentivize a user for more referrals? (Encouraging the increase of average referrals per user)

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4 BROAD INCENTIVES are outlined as follows (labelled in different colours) -

• The cashback amount increases by Rs. 20 / 50 for every new user a an existing user on boards. It can be capped at a max. of Rs. 500 per referral.

• Furthermore, top referees can we rewarded with zero delivery fee for lifetime. This number can be a small percentage of the total no. of existing users who get successful referrals (for example - top 1% or 5% of all those who successfully manage to onboard new customers with the referral program).

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• Additionally, this cohort of the referees can be the first ones to be send exclusive branded gifts. BlinkIt already sends gifts around festive time. This referral program can serve as interesting avenue to partner with brands (in the form of a campaign, perhaps) where he targeted 'super shoppers' (i.e. those with high frequency and/or high AOVs) can be sent trial packs of new/ trending products on sale. It can be a win-win-win situation for all three parties involved -

1. ​(i.e. for brands for being able to reach frequent shoppers with a possibly low adoption curve - insights from BlinkIt to back this,
2. for BlinkIt itself to convert this into a revenue opportunity by designing a campaign around it, and ​
3. for the referees - the super shoppers, of course, for they get to receive the free gifts more often than just festivals. Th gifts can be seasonal, new-products, trending products and more in nature)

• Finally, an exclusive set of offers can be shared with super shoppers who turn into super referees. Additional discounts on select items/item categories can be explored for this cohort of users.

Content Loops and Content Partnerships

Given Zomato's clever and vital placements, BlinkIt has a great opportunity for product placement across content platforms.

For example - in light-hearted family dramas such as What The Folks? or even the ones with more mass appeal such as Masaba Masaba.

While the above would definitely be costly exercises and largely focus on building brand affinity, they can definitely leave a strong impression of the brand in the minds of the customers and potential customers. Content loops suggested are definitely low effort (for the company itself), fairly easy to track performance of with moderate amount of time involved.

Furthermore, content loops can be created keeping a broader audience i.e. in terms of age segments in mind -

For instance, consider the following loop with costs being on the lower side (as the generators involved will be individual creators) :

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Here's another example with a little higher cost of production involved but possibly content that can create a larger impact -

Besides this, the content loops can vastly increase the brand affinity which indirectly affects brand perception and induces trial.

With this, I hope to have addressed my acquisition experiments in as much as detail as needed. It has involved quite a lot of thinking and I sincerely hope it is at the desirable level now. Thank you! (:

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