India’s Ola Plans 500 Quick Commerce Dark Stores

Indian ride-hailing service Ola has rebranded its quick commerce business to “Ola Dash” as it prepares to establish what will be the largest collection of “dark stores” in the country.

According to multiple news accounts Friday (Jan. 28), the company — formerly known as “Ola Store” — will open 500 dark stores, a term for warehouses with no retail storefronts, in 20 cities in India over the next six months.

The service is already available in nine cities, with Ola operating more than 20 dark stores and 2,500 stock keeping units.

Read more: Indian Ride-Hailing App Ola Nets $500M

“Our quick commerce service is an essential part of our connection with customers as they rely on technology and online service to fulfill their daily needs,” said Anshul Khandelwal, Ola’s chief marketing officer. “Over the next few months, we will be expanding our reach and presence to more cities and customers.”

Learn more: Indian Food Delivery Giant Swiggy Raises $700M at $10.7B Valuation

Ola’s plans to rebrand and expand arrive at a time when a number of companies are pushing into the quick commerce space in India. The country — Asia’s third-biggest economy — has seen a massive spike in demand for food and grocery delivery, initially fueled by the pandemic.

As PYMNTS reported earlier this week, Indian food delivery giant Swiggy raised $700 million and doubled its valuation to $10.7 billion.

Backed by Softbank, Swiggy slightly trails Zomato in the booming quick commerce sector. Swiggy previously raised $1.25 billion in July, bringing its valuation to $5.5 billion. Zomato went public in a $1.3 billion initial public offering (IPO) a few weeks ago.

Swiggy’s grocery delivery service Instamart is projected to reach an annualized gross merchandise value run rate of $1 billion over the next three quarters.

“While the food delivery business has nearly doubled in gross order value in the last year, this fundraise will enable Swiggy to further accelerate growth on the core platform and make meaningful investments to grow Instamart,” the company said.