Instamart pilots physical experiential store in Gurugram

Swiggy's quick commerce arm Instamart has piloted a physical experiential store in Gurugram, as the company tests a limited offline format alongside its dark store led delivery operations, according to media reports and people aware of the development.

The outlet, located at M3M 65th Avenue, operates as an Instamart branded experiential store and is separate from the company’s dark store network. Consumers can visit the store to see select products, with purchases being made through walk-in transactions at the outlet rather than via the Instamart app. As reported earlier, the store carries a narrow assortment of around 100 to 200 SKUs, compared to the much wider catalogue available at Instamart dark stores.

Sources said these experiential formats are being opened in and around residential societies by sellers on the Instamart platform. The stores are not positioned as retail outlets but as small format experiential spaces with a limited SKU range. The focus is largely on categories where consumers prefer physical inspection before purchase, including fresh fruits and vegetables, pulses, new product launches and offerings from some direct to consumer brands.

The initiative is expected to be primarily centred on fresh categories.

The transaction structure at these stores also differs from Instamart’s standard model. As per sources, payments made at the outlet are routed directly to sellers, rather than being collected by Swiggy and settled later after commission deductions. Sellers are understood to be experimenting with the format under Instamart’s branding and service support.

Instamart continues to operate through a network of dark stores across multiple cities for rapid delivery of groceries and daily essentials, with the experiential outlet functioning alongside this infrastructure. Swiggy has not made an official announcement on the initiative and has not indicated whether it plans to expand the format to other locations.

Swiggy did not respond to queries till publication.