Dark Store Market Report 2025

This Dark Store Market report delivers an in-depth analysis of the market’s key characteristics, including size, growth potential, and segmentation. It provides a detailed breakdown of the market across major regions and leading countries, highlighting historical data and future growth projections. The report also examines the competitive landscape, market share insights, emerging trends, and strategic developments shaping the market.

The dark store market size has grown exponentially in recent years. It will grow from $23.33 billion in 2024 to $32.91 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41%. The growth during the historical period can be attributed to the increase in online grocery shopping, the rise of e-commerce platforms, the growing use of smartphones, the increasing demand for quick and efficient online shopping, and the impact of COVID-19.

The dark store market size is expected to see exponential growth in the next few years. It will grow to $128.78 billion in 2029 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40.7%. The growth during the forecast period can be attributed to the rise of e-commerce platforms, increased urbanization, growing demand for grocery delivery, the expansion of dark store services beyond groceries, and the increasing demand for home delivery. Key trends in the forecast period include advanced cold storage for perishables, automation and robotics, integration with advanced logistics systems, the use of blockchain for supply chain transparency, voice-assisted picking, and the use of augmented reality (AR) for in-store navigation.

The growth of online grocery shopping is expected to significantly drive the expansion of the dark store market in the future. Online grocery shopping involves purchasing food and household items through e-commerce platforms, with options for delivery or pickup. The rise in online grocery shopping is attributed to factors such as convenience, time savings, better e-commerce technology, enhanced delivery services, and a broader selection of products. Dark stores play an essential role in supporting online grocery shopping by serving as dedicated fulfillment centers that streamline inventory management and delivery processes, ensuring faster and more accurate order fulfillment. For example, in July 2024, a report by Mercatus Technologies Inc., a US-based software development company, revealed that U.S. online grocery sales reached $7.7 billion in 2024, reflecting an 8% increase compared to 2023. Therefore, the surge in online grocery shopping is fueling the growth of the dark store market.

Key players in the dark store market are focusing on developing innovative solutions such as shared micro-fulfillment networks to improve delivery speed, reduce costs, and enhance last-mile logistics efficiency. A shared micro-fulfillment network is a system where multiple e-commerce companies share a centralized, automated fulfillment center to store products closer to customers, enabling faster and more cost-effective local deliveries. For instance, in August 2024, Delhivery Limited, an India-based logistics and supply chain company, introduced a network of multi-tenant dark stores for "rapid in-city delivery" for e-commerce businesses. Multi-tenant dark stores are shared warehousing facilities used by several e-commerce companies to store products for quick, local deliveries. These stores are designed to optimize inventory management and reduce delivery times, allowing businesses to share operational costs while ensuring efficient fulfillment of online orders.

In August 2022, Zomato Limited, an India-based food delivery company, acquired Blinkit for approximately INR 44.47 billion ($0.5 billion). The acquisition aims to strengthen Zomato's position in the quick commerce sector by integrating Blinkit's rapid delivery services, enhancing its ability to offer fast, on-demand deliveries, and expanding its market share in the food delivery and related services industry. Blink Commerce Private Limited is an India-based company specializing in the on-demand delivery of groceries and everyday essentials through dark stores.

Major players in the dark store market are Walmart Inc., Amazoncom Inc., The Kroger Co, Albertsons Companies Inc, Auchan Retail International SA, Uber Technologies Inc., Zalando SE, BigBasket, Flipkart Internet Private Limited, Instacart, Deliveroo, Grab Holdings Limited, Wincanton plc, Swiggy, Wolt Enterprises Oy, Getir Perakende Lojistik AŞ, Zepto, Flink SE, Dunzo Daily, Ola Foods Private Limited.

North America was the largest region in the dark store market in 2024. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in dark store report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa. The countries covered in the dark store market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Spain.

A dark store is a retail facility specifically designed to fulfill online orders, rather than serving as a traditional shopping destination for customers. These stores are primarily used by e-commerce businesses for tasks such as picking, packing, and shipping goods to consumers. Dark stores are optimized to efficiently manage large inventories and ensure quick order fulfillment, typically without any customer-facing elements such as checkout counters or product displays.

The main categories of dark stores include groceries, meat, and dairy. Groceries consist of essential food and beverage items, such as cereals, vegetables, and canned goods, which are commonly purchased by consumers for daily use. The age groups served by dark stores include children, adults, and the elderly. Dark stores are categorized by ownership into independently owned and chain-owned stores. Distribution channels available for customers include in-store pickup, curbside pickup, and home delivery.

The dark stores market research report is one of a series of new reports that provides dark stores market statistics, including the dark stores industry global market size, regional shares, competitors with the dark stores market share, detailed dark stores market segments, market trends, and opportunities, and any further data you may need to thrive in the dark stores industry. This dark store market research report delivers a complete perspective of everything you need, with an in-depth analysis of the current and future scenarios of the industry.

The dark store market includes revenues earned by entities by providing services such as e-commerce fulfillment services, order picking and packing, inventory management, and product sorting and repackaging. The market value includes the value of related goods sold by the service provider or included within the service offering. Only goods and services traded between entities or sold to end consumers are included.

The market value is defined as the revenues that enterprises gain from the sale of goods and/or services within the specified market and geography through sales, grants, or donations in terms of the currency (in USD, unless otherwise specified).

The revenues for a specified geography are consumption values that are revenues generated by organizations in the specified geography within the market, irrespective of where they are produced. It does not include revenues from resales along the supply chain, either further along the supply chain or as part of other products.

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