Retail tech’s Q3 shows quick commerce, beauty and logistics scaling
Eternal’s revenue rose 201.9% year-on-year to ₹16,315 crore, Nykaa posted 27% growth and Delhivery’s service revenue climbed 18%, underscoring expanding retail-tech engines as India’s retail market is projected to reach ₹210–215 trillion by 2035.
What happened
Eternal (formerly Zomato) · India’s retail-tech ecosystem is scaling as the retail market is projected to more than double by 2035. Eternal, Nykaa and Delhivery
Key facts
- India retail market projected at Rs 210-215 trillion by 2035, from Rs 90-95 trillion in 2025
- Eternal Q3 FY26 revenue Rs 16,315 crore, up 201.9% YoY; net profit Rs 102 crore, up 102.9%
- Eternal added over 200 net stores
- Nykaa Q3 FY26 revenue Rs 2,873 crore, up 27%; net profit Rs 68 crore, up 156%
- Nykaa gross margin 45.2%; EBITDA margin 8.0%
- Nykaa added 11 stores, reaching 276 stores across 94 cities
- Nykaa B2B platform serves over 4.8 lakh retailers in 1,100 cities
- Delhivery Q3 FY26 service revenue about Rs 2,798 crore, up 18%; net profit about Rs 110 crore before integration costs and Rs 40 crore after
Why this matters
Strategic buyers should target capabilities in last-mile logistics, rapid delivery infrastructure and beauty-commerce enablement before category leaders widen their scale advantage.
What to watch
- Eternal/Blinkit contribution-margin trends, dark-store count, average order value, delivery cost per order and advertising revenue.
- Nykaa's GMV growth versus revenue growth, EBITDA margin, repeat-customer behavior, owned-brand mix and offline-store productivity.
- Delhivery's shipment volumes, realized revenue per parcel, EBITDA improvement, return-to-origin rates and utilization of sorting centers.
- Competitive capital expenditure and discount intensity from Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, Amazon, Flipkart and large-format retailers.
- Changes in consumer spending on discretionary beauty versus essential quick-commerce categories, especially during festive periods.
- Regulatory developments affecting gig workers, dark-store zoning, data/privacy rules and e-commerce marketplace practices.
- Eternal is likely to prioritize dark-store density, higher-frequency categories, private labels and advertising monetization over broad national expansion alone.
- Nykaa may increase offline store openings, premium-brand exclusives and owned-brand assortment while using loyalty data to improve repeat purchases.
- Delhivery is likely to pursue network utilization gains through automated hubs, enterprise contracts, B2B logistics and return-management services.
- Competing retailers and marketplaces may raise quick-commerce investment, increasing pressure on delivery fees, consumer discounts and supplier terms.
- Brands may reallocate trade budgets from traditional retail toward quick-commerce placements, beauty marketplaces and retail-media inventory.