Vertical Vs Vertical: Eternal's New Blinkit Model To Eat Into Its Hyperpure Business

Eternal Ltd.'s quick commerce vertical is changing to an inventory ownership model, which is directly going to affect its Hyperpure business.

"We will be gradually transitioning our quick commerce business from a marketplace model to inventory ownership over the next 2-3 quarters," the food aggregator told shareholders in a letter after the company's first quarter earnings. "As an outcome of this transition, we will also see a shrinkage in Hyperpure’s non-restaurant business as most of the B2B buyers in that business were sellers on our quick commerce platform."

Hyperpure is Eternal's business-to-business platform that supplies ingredients and kitchen supplies to the restaurants industry.

As of the June-ended quarter, Hyperpure contributed Rs 2,295 crore to Eternal's top line, a 25% jump compared to the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the quick commerce segment saw a 40% quarterly jump in revenue, coming up to Rs 2,400 crore for the first quarter.

"Our teams are well prepared for this transition and we expect to start working with brands directly without any disruption to the business," Chief Financial Officer Akshant Goyal told shareholders.

He said that a control on inventory gives the firm more leverage on margins in the business, and allows it to push on assortment expansion. "We expect to see about 1 percentage point margin expansion over time, as a result of this transition," he added.

• Quick commerce revenue is expected to become very similar to NOV going forward. Hence, quick commerce revenue will increase.

• Hyperpure revenue will decrease on account of scale down of non-restaurant business.

• Net working capital in quick commerce business will increase as Eternal starts owning inventory and net working capital in Hyperpure business will decrease.

• No change to quick commerce NOV and no change to Hyperpure’s restaurant business revenue or profitability.

In the first quarter, about 3% of Eternal's NOV was already on its own inventory. "We expect this share to increase sharply in the next quarter," Eternal said.

Eternal, the parent company of leading food delivery platform Zomato, posted a 36% sequential drop in consolidated net profit in the June quarter of fiscal 2025-26 (Q1FY26). The share price of the Deepinder Goyal-led company soared 7% with the announcement of Q1 results.

The bottom line came in at Rs 25 crore, compared to Rs 39 crore in the March quarter, according to a stock exchange filing on Monday. Analysts' consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg projected Rs 106.8 crore.

• Revenue up 23% to Rs 7,167 crore versus Rs 5,833 crore (Estimate: Rs 6,624 crore)

• EBITDA up 60% to Rs 115 crore versus Rs 72 crore (Estimate: Rs 179 crore)

• Margin at 1.6% versus 1.2% (Estimate: 19.2%)

• Net profit down 36% to Rs 25 crore versus Rs 39 crore (Estimate: Rs 106.8 crore)

Eternal's food delivery segment's net profit rose 6% sequentially to Rs 465 crore, while the quick commerce segment reported a net loss of Rs 42 crore from Rs 82 crore in the previous quarter. The hyperpure business also reported a loss of Rs 5 crore in the quarter-under-review, narrower than Rs 8 crore in the March quarter.

In terms of revenue, the food delivery segment reported a rise of 10% sequentially, quick commerce reported a growth of 40%, hyperpure business revenue rose 25%, while the going-out revenue dropped 10% compared to the preceding March quarter of FY26.

Eternal also announced that it will launch a new service where food will be prepared, sold and delivered to customers in a bid to rival Zepto Cafe. The company will incorporate a wholly-owned subsidiary named Blinkit Foods Ltd. with a total paid-up capital of Rs 10 lakh.

"Blinkit Foods is proposed to be incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary and would inter-alia engage in the business of providing food services (including innovation, preparation, sourcing, sale and delivery of food to customers)," said Eternal in its stock exchange filing.