Dark Store

Also called Micro-Fulfilment Centre

A small warehouse, closed to shoppers, set up inside a neighbourhood to pack online orders within minutes. It is what makes ten-minute delivery possible.

Why it matters

A dark store carries only a few thousand fast-moving products and judges each by how quickly it sells, so for a consumer brand, getting a slot, keeping it stocked and keeping it selling are now part of distribution. Supplying them also ties up inventory across many cities at once.

For example

A personal-care brand ships stock to dark stores in Bengaluru and Mumbai; an order placed in Indiranagar is picked and packed in about two minutes and delivered in about ten.

Go deeper

How dark stores are powering growth of quick commerce players Business Today · article A 2023 magazine feature that walks through how a dark store works: its size and location, how an order is picked and handed to a rider, and what one costs to run. Open businesstoday.in →

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