What they have in common
All three deliver groceries and everyday products in minutes from dark stores near the shopper. All three are search-led: shoppers type, look at the first scroll and buy. All three sell ads, mainly sponsored search placements. And on all three, each dark store has its own stock and search results.
So the basics of winning are the same everywhere: be in stock in the right stores, rank on the first scroll for the keywords that matter, and price sensibly against the products next to you.
Where they differ
- Shelf and competitors. Assortment differs by platform. The brands that rank, and the ones that pay for visibility, are not the same everywhere.
- City footprint. Each platform is stronger in some cities and areas than others, and that keeps changing.
- Ads platforms. Each has its own ads console, formats and reporting. Campaigns don't copy cleanly from one to another.
- Brand data. Each gives brands their own sales and inventory through its own portal, in its own format. None shows you the shelf next to competitors.
How to decide where to focus
- Look at your category, in your cities. Where does your category sell today? A national headline about which platform is "biggest" says little about your shelf.
- Check how crowded the first scroll is. A platform where the first scroll is held by many paying competitors costs more to win than one with gaps.
- Check you can supply it. Being listed but out of stock does more harm than not being listed.
- Start where you can win, then add. Get one platform right, then take what you learned to the next.
Running more than one
Once you sell on two or three, compare them on the same basis: share of search, availability and estimated market share, city by city. Move budget to the platform where it converts. Don't add up a national number that hides a weak city.
Digital Shelf shows all three in one dashboard. For platform detail, see Blinkit data, Instamart data and Zepto data. For a written read of your category across the three, see Market Intel.