Swiggy expands Noice beyond staples, testing limits of private labels in quick commerce

The move has expanded Noice’s product range and supplier base since August last year. With Swiggy adding products in new categories, Noice has grown from around 200 stock keeping units (SKUs) to around 350 now, and from around 40 contract manufacturers to close to 70 in the same period, two people aware of the company’s operations said.

A small-batch, premium assortment focused on Indian snacks, desserts, cookies and baked goods sourced from small kitchens and manufacturers, the second person familiar with Instamart’s operations said it has expanded sharply in recent months as Noice has added more categories and partners.

“The latest additions include beverages, ready-to-cook items, dairy products and fresh items like eggs, dosa batter and paneer,” the person said.

Industry executives and analysts who follow flash trading said most platforms already sell private labels, such as Tata Digital-owned BigBasket’s BB Royal and Fresho, Zomato-owned Blinkit’s Whole Farm and Zepto’s Daily Good and Relish, but the pace of Noice’s expansion suggests Swiggy is building it as a standalone brand and not just a cheaper, in-house label.

Swiggy is also bringing in senior talent in this effort. Flipkart’s former private label director Royan Mody leads Noice at Swiggy Instamart. Swiggy has also hired Mayur Hola, who previously led global brand roles at OYO, as vice president of brand, in a role spanning Swiggy’s businesses, including Instamart.

margin game

Flash trading platforms, category scalers and listed parent companies are struggling to generate consistent profits even as they strive to expand. Swiggy’s Instamart reports adjusted revenue ₹1,038 crore in July-September quarter ₹Adjusted EBITDA loss despite Rs 513 crore a year ago ₹849 crore onwards ₹359 crore in the same period, which factors into Swiggy’s overall loss.

Adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed sequentially at Zomato-owned Blinkit ₹156 crore in the second quarter of FY26 ₹162 crore in the previous quarter even as the company accelerated store additions and reported a sharp rise in adjusted revenue after shifting to an inventory-driven model. Zepto doubles sales in FY25 ₹9,668.8 crore, but net loss increased by 177% ₹3,367.3 crore reflects the cost of scaling in an increasingly competitive market.

Industry executives and analysts said players are relying on tools such as private labels and advertising revenue from brand partners to boost margins. But Swiggy’s rapidly expanding Noice range shows it is moving more into the private label game, going deeper into packaged foods and consumer staples to differentiate Instamart and boost unit economics.

Industry estimates show that private labels now account for roughly 20-25% of sales of staples like grains and rice, as well as other everyday grocery items, as fast-commerce platforms like Zepto, BigBasket, Blinkit and Swiggy feature more in-house brands in these categories.

“Quick merchants earn between 10-15% on net margins when working with third-party brands to sell products on the platform. With private labels, this can go up to 35-40% on gross margins even after sharing a piece with manufacturers, as is the case with Swiggy’s Noice products,” said Pradyumna Nag, director at Prequate, a management and financial consultancy firm.

Consumer pushback

Fast-track merchants have kept their private labels largely in the staples and everyday grocery categories, similar to what supermarkets and hypermarkets have done to increase their margins. But Swiggy seems to be taking Noice beyond the typical basic games by adding hundreds of SKUs across categories.

However, strategy carries implementation and competition risks. Flash commerce apps have become increasingly important as a key discovery and sales channel for new-age consumer brands as well as large packaged goods companies, raising the possibility of friction with brand partners if platform-owned labels receive disproportionate visibility.

A venture capital investor in the consumer and D2C space said flash commerce typically contributes around 2-3% of a new brand’s sales, while modern commerce contributes around 10-15%, with the rest coming from the brand’s own online channels and marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart.

“Although 2-3 percent share seems low, it is still a very large number for a brand with sales of 100 million. ₹10,000 crore and above every year, i.e. all over the world ₹Sales worth Rs 200-300 crore are coming from flash trading,” the investor said.

A product manager at a rival flash commerce platform quoted earlier in the story said the company encountered higher declines at checkout when it tried to promote its own private labels on key products through search rankings.

“Whenever we try to show our rice, attack “After a while, we stopped prioritizing our own brands,” the product manager said. he said.

Prequate’s Pradyumna Nag said Noice is similar to Amazon’s Solimo-style playbook, where product selection is driven by the platform’s internal data on “what’s selling where.”

power equation

He pointed out a common criticism of such models: e-commerce and flash commerce platforms can enter categories after sellers on their platforms have already done the hard work of generating demand (managing inventory risk, returns, and consumer awareness), but end up competing with the platform itself.

Nag added that with Noice, the model may not be profitable yet, but it is scaling faster than many e-commerce private label programs. Swiggy does not directly own Noice’s production today, but Nag said control can still be exercised through addiction.

“Amazon doesn’t own the production… If you see the company or impact definition where there is a single customer or over 90% of the revenue comes from them… I don’t need to have equity to be able to assert control,” he said.

As flash commerce platforms deepen their private label push, smaller D2C and packaged goods brands may ultimately have a harder time negotiating terms, Nag said. He described this as a ‘strangulation’ dynamic, arguing that flash trading had become an important channel due to its fast cash cycle, but that bargaining power varied sharply with brand size.

Big established brands like Britannia can credibly threaten to pull out because consumers may switch platforms if a big brand’s products disappear, Nag said. He added that smaller brands often lack this leverage because many shoppers search general categories like ‘chips’ rather than searching for a niche brand by name, giving platforms the edge in search placement and discovery.