DMart Ready shut 232 stores, then quit five more cities as quick commerce closed in

Avenue Supermarts, which runs the DMart discount chain, told investors in its July–September 2025 earnings release that it had stopped DMart Ready e-commerce pickup and delivery in Amritsar, Belagavi, Bhilai, Chandigarh and Ghaziabad. The unit, which lets shoppers order online and collect from a pickup point or receive groceries at home within six hours, went from 24 cities to 19, Mint reported on 14 October 2025.

It was the second retrenchment. At the end of March 2023 DMart Ready had 573 stores; over the next 12 months it shut 232 of them, more than 40% of the network, and ended fiscal 2024 with 341. The company did not disclose its current count. Avenue E-commerce, the subsidiary that houses DMart Ready, grew revenue more than 20% to ₹3,502 crore in fiscal 2025, but losses widened by over 33% to ₹247.37 crore.

Analysts quoted by Mint pointed to quick commerce. Kotak Institutional Equities counted 100-plus cities where at least one quick-commerce company operates and DMart has no store. LKP Securities' Sandeep Abhange said the Chandigarh stores 'were not that profitable' and that shoppers used to 10- or 12-minute delivery will not choose a six-hour model. Nuvama estimated DMart Ready's September-quarter sales grew 16%, down from 25% a year earlier. Avenue Supermarts did not respond to Mint's request for comment.

DMart Ready's six-hour delivery and pickup-point model looked slow against Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart's 10- to 12-minute promise, per LKP Securities' analyst.

Smaller cities did not generate enough profit for the stores there; the analyst said the company prefers to leave areas where it cannot make stores profitable.

Quick-commerce players were expanding into tier-II and tier-III cities faster than DMart's physical network, with Blinkit opening 243 dark stores in the June 2025 quarter.

Customers shifted from pickup to home delivery, and Nuvama linked the widening subsidiary loss to the higher share of delivery sales.

Slow, profitable-or-nothing delivery can't hold a smaller market once rivals subsidise speed. Retreating to the metros saves money but concedes the growth.

DMart Ready now concentrates on metro cities, where Mint says demand for digital grocery is stronger. CEO Neville Noronha said earlier in 2025 that delivery volumes 'far exceed' pickup-point sales. Mint's reporting does not say whether any of the five cities will be reopened, and Avenue Supermarts did not comment on the closures.