How it works
We read each dark store on its own, and count who is on its shelf.
Your ad panel shows your own campaigns. The apps show everyone’s: every brand on each dark store’s shelf, every brand that holds a paid slot on a search, city by city, including when a shopper types your brand name. Shelf reads it store by store, at a scale no team does by hand: 11,234 stores in 984 cities.
12,065stores read, one by one
11,234 of them on the grocery apps. 831 stores, cafes and kitchens on the category apps. 22 apps in all.
Each store read on its own. Every app, and what Shelf shows on it
How a figure is read
Four steps, from a store’s shelf to your screen.
- 1
We open each app at the store itself
Set to the delivery area of one dark store at a time, city by city, with no seller login and no ad account.
- 2
We type what shoppers type
Keywords of four kinds: plain words for a product, brand names, a brand with a product, and needs. The same keywords in every city, so cities can be compared.
- 3
We record the page that comes back
The first results in the order shown, which of them the app itself marks as paid, the banner above them, and each product’s brand, pack, price and stock.
- 4
We count, and name with care
By brand, keyword, city and position on the page. A brand is named on a keyword only where it held a paid slot in 5 or more cities.
The method in full: How we read the apps
From the read
Each app, city by city.
Search and paid slots, read every day.
| App | Cities | Paid slots |
|---|---|---|
| Blinkit | 451 | 15% |
| Zepto | 90 | 36% |
| Swiggy Instamart | 201 | 11% |
| BigBasket | 113 | 4% |
| Flipkart Minutes | 171 | 16% |
| JioMart | 860 | 19% |
| Amazon Now | 134 | - |
Paid slots: the share of result slots each app marked as paid, 4% to 36% depending on the app. On Blinkit, 81% of brand names had another brand’s paid slot on them, in 5 or more cities.
Getting started
Three steps to your first screen.
- 1
Pick a category
The one you sell in, plan to sell in, or study. Its brands, its share of the shelf and its middle price show at once.
- 2
Type your email and the code
We email you a six-digit code. Your email is your login: no password, no card.
- 3
Follow the brands you care about
The brands that lead your category are suggested, and any other is a name away. If one is yours, mark it, and Shelf opens on it.
In the product
What that lets us say about a rival.
Every plan sets your paid slots beside the totals of the rival you watch. The rival’s own map (its keywords, its cities and the other brands’ names its paid slots appeared on) opens on Pro, ₹29,999 a month. Pricing
- Its paid slots, counted
- How many paid slots of the brand we saw, on how many keywords, and its usual position on the page.
- Its keywords
- Each keyword we saw it hold a paid slot on, with the share of searches where it did, and where it ranks unpaid on the same keyword.
- Its cities
- The cities where it held a paid slot, and the cities where it held none. Drawn on a map, against yours.
- On other brands’ names
- Searches for another brand’s name on which its paid slot appeared. Yours among them, city by city.
- Where on the page
- Which positions on the page its paid slots appeared in, and the banners above the results that carried its name.
Getting started
What happens when you start.
- 1
You choose where to start
Your brand, the category you plan to sell in, or the whole market. A brand that is not on the apps yet starts from its category.
- 2
You type your email and a code
We email you a six-digit code. Your email is your login: no password, no card.
- 3
We name who to follow
Your rivals, or the brands that lead your category, each with the reason we saw them. Tick the ones that matter, or name your own.
- 4
Your first screen opens
Your brand’s briefing, your category’s brands and prices, or the apps side by side. Every figure says when it was read.
Looking for a brand, a product or a keyword you do not see? There is a box for it at every step: type the name or paste a product link, and we will reply.
See it on your own brand or category before you pay.
Starting is free with an account, with a brand or without one. To see the detail behind it, ask us and we will open Shelf on your brand or your category before you pay.
The shelf side (which stores list a product, which are out of stock, where a rival is on the shelf and you are not) is read the same way, store by store, and is set out in full in How we read the apps, with every definition and rule.
Questions about how it works
How do you know which brands hold the paid slots on quick commerce apps?
We open each app at a store’s delivery area, type the words shoppers type, and record the page that comes back: the results in order and which ones the app itself marks as paid. We then count by brand, keyword, city and position.
Can you see how much a rival spends on ads?
No. We see where a paid slot appeared, not what it cost. No spend, bid, click or return figure appears in the product.
Does a paid slot mean the brand chose that search?
Not always. Apps also place paid slots by category, so a brand can appear on a search it never picked. Shelf says a brand held a paid slot on searches for a keyword, and stops there.
Do you need my seller login or ad account?
No. Nothing in the product is built on a login. Everything shown is read from the apps’ own pages, store by store and search by search.
Can Shelf show my own sales?
No. Sales are in your seller panel, and Shelf never asks for a seller login. It shows the shelf, search and paid slots, for your brand and every other one.
Is there a free trial?
No. Your own brand’s counts are free with an account. To see the detail behind them, ask us and we will open Shelf on your brand before you pay.
See the shelf, every day.
Every store read every day. Pick a category and see who leads it, what sells out, who ranks in its searches and who pays for its ads. Free.
No card and no seller login needed.