Zepto and Instamart push private labels into fresh produce
Zepto’s Bloom and Swiggy Instamart’s Nectr signal a deeper move into own-brand fruits and vegetables, where margins can reach 35–45%. Instamart’s Bengaluru pilot lifted produce spending by 10%, repurchase by 12 percentage points and retention by 7 points.
What happened
Zepto and Swiggy Instamart are extending private labels into fresh produce through Bloom and Nectr, aiming to capture 35-45% margins. Instamart’s Bengaluru
Key facts
- Fresh-produce private labels can generate 35-45% margins
- Premium packaged private-label margins are 20-25%
- Staples private-label margins are 15-25%
- Private labels represent 12-16% of quick-commerce sales, versus 6-8% in early 2025
- Zepto's farmer programme directly sources from more than 1,000 growers across eight states
- Fresh fruits and vegetables previously accounted for more than half of Zepto orders and nearly one-third of revenue
- Instamart's Nectr pilot operates across five dark stores in Bengaluru
- Nectr pilot raised fruit-and-vegetable spending by 10%
- Nectr lifted repurchase rates by 12 percentage points and retention by 7 percentage points
- Fresh-produce startups cited have collectively raised more than $80 million
- Instamart's Supreme Harvest has 22-25% category share, up from about 18% a year ago
- Zepto's Daily Good has 12-14% category share
- Blinkit's Whole Farm has 8-10% category share
Why this matters
The move makes differentiated sourcing networks, cold-chain capabilities and regional farm partnerships strategically valuable targets for quick-commerce platforms.
What to watch
- Bloom and Nectr rollout into additional cities, SKU count growth and placement prominence in app search and home-screen merchandising.
- Disclosed changes in fresh-produce repeat rates, retention, average order value, basket penetration and category contribution margin.
- Evidence of direct farm contracts, packhouse partnerships, FPO tie-ups, proprietary sourcing teams or investments in cold-chain infrastructure.
- Customer ratings, refund rates, substitution rates, stock-out frequency and social-media complaints about freshness or quality.
- Price gaps between private-label produce, local-marketplace produce and organized retail competitors.
- Competitive responses from Blinkit, BigBasket, Flipkart Minutes, JioMart and modern trade chains, especially through their own fresh labels or sourcing programs.
- Supplier and farmer reactions, including preferential supply agreements, procurement-price disputes or attempts by branded fresh players to secure platform visibility.
- Expand private-label produce from Bengaluru and other pilot markets into high-order-density metros, starting with high-repeat staples such as bananas, tomatoes, onions, potatoes and leafy greens.
- Build direct sourcing networks with farms, FPOs, aggregators and packhouses, reducing reliance on wholesale mandis and intermediaries.
- Introduce visible quality tiers, freshness guarantees, replacement/refund policies and traceability labels to overcome trust barriers in unbranded fresh produce.
- Bundle own-brand produce with meal solutions, private-label dairy, staples and ready-to-cook products to lift basket size and increase habitual ordering.
- Use personalized discounts and loyalty offers to shift frequent produce buyers from marketplace SKUs toward Bloom and Nectr.
- Invest in demand forecasting, micro-fulfilment handling, ripening, grading and waste-reduction systems as produce volumes scale.