Bengaluru-headquartered quick commerce company Dunzo is set to shut down some of its dark stores in Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad. The development comes after the start-up raised $240 million in a round led by Reliance Retail in January, Entrackr reported. 

“Dunzo is shutting down 25 per cent to 30 per cent of its dark stores in the national capital region and Hyderabad as the company has been eyeing to improve unit economics,” one of the sources told Entrackr. 

A dark store is a form of a post-pandemic warehouse where things can be purchased online. However, these outlets are not open to visitors or customers. 

This is not the first time that Dunzo had closed these outlets; it had earlier downed the shutters of 120 dark stores across eight cities in the country. The company denied disclosing the exact number of stores that are going to be shut, Entrackr reported. 

"...we shut down a few stores in peripheral areas with very low demand to drive operational efficiencies and optimise costs. Most of these areas are now being serviced by our high-density stores, where we are already witnessing a spike in order volume," a Dunzo spokesperson told Entrackr. 

“We continue to service almost 97 per cent of our overall customer demand. Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad remain important markets for us and we are going to build our presence here," he also added. 

Dunzo joins the club of start-ups that laid-off employees this year. It plans to rationalise its employee bandwidth by laying off 25-30 per cent of its staff in the coming months. The development can come as a cost-cutting measure for the company. 

Since its inception, Dunzo has been losing money. In the last financial year, Dunzo witnessed a 2x increase in its net loss taking the amount to Rs 460 crore.