Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart Listing Guide (2026): Image Rules, Title Format, MRP, Expiry, Category Mapping, Packaging and NPI

Quick commerce listings are different from marketplace listings in one important way: the product page is only half the job. On Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart the catalogue row also feeds a dark store's picking, expiry and replenishment systems, so a listing with a wrong weight, a missing shelf life or a barcode that will not scan fails at inwarding even if the page looks perfect. As of September 2026 none of the three apps publishes a public listing specification; requirements are shared through the brand portals and the category manager during onboarding. This guide sets out the rules that are consistent across 2026 operator and agency guides and our own work, marks which are platform statements and which are working standards, and lists why submissions get sent back. For the onboarding route read how to sell on Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart; for what each platform charges read Blinkit seller fees explained. If you would rather hand the catalogue and account to a team that does it weekly, see our quick commerce account management service.

How does the NPI process work?

All three platforms take new SKUs through a step usually called NPI (new product introduction). After the brand is onboarded you submit a catalogue sheet, typically one row per SKU, with the fields in the table below and the images attached or linked. A category manager or catalogue team reviews content, compliance and commercial fit, sends back a list of corrections, and approves the SKU for a first purchase order. Guides report Blinkit taking three to seven days to approve SKUs; Zepto and Instamart give no figure and in our experience run on a similar cycle when the file is clean. The SKU then goes live per dark store as stock is inwarded, not on approval, so listing and first PO are separate milestones.

The portals differ in name (Blinkit Seller Hub at seller.blinkit.com, Zepto Brand Portal at brands.zepto.co.in, Swiggy Instamart Partner Portal at partner.instamart.in) but ask for the same core data:

What are the image size rules?

None of the three publishes a spec sheet, but 2026 guides and our submissions converge on one standard, driven by how the apps render: a product tile is small, so the pack must be readable when tiny.

• Front of pack: square, at least 1000 by 1000 px, white background, product filling most of the frame, no text overlay, no badges, and legible at 200 by 200 px (this is the test the apps effectively apply).
• Back of pack: ingredients, nutrition table, FSSAI mark and Legal Metrology block visible.
• Picker image: a plain, true-to-life shot of the sellable unit so dark store staff can match pack to bin; for multipacks, the multipack, not the single.
• JPEG or PNG, sRGB, no shadows that darken the pack, and the current artwork, because MRP on the image is compared with the MRP field.

The common mistakes: lifestyle shots as the front image, a single-unit photo on a 3-pack SKU, a render that differs from the shipped pack, and a front image where the flavour or variant name is unreadable at tile size. Shoot every variant separately; a colour-shifted flavour is a returns generator.

How should the product title be written?

Quick commerce titles are short and structural, because customers search the app by product and pack size rather than by long-tail keywords. The pattern that works across all three, and that category managers correct towards, is Brand + Product + Variant + Pack size: "Amul Butter Salted 500 g", "Yoga Bar Multigrain Energy Bar Chocolate 38 g", "Sirona Rash Free Sanitary Pads XL 15 Pieces". Keep the unit with a space and standard abbreviations (g, kg, ml, l, pcs), do not add adjectives ("delicious", "premium"), do not repeat the brand, and do not put the MRP or "combo" in the title unless the SKU is a combo. Titles feed the picker's screen as well as the customer's, so a variant word that is missing on the title is missing for the picker.

What are the MRP, expiry and shelf-life rules?

MRP. The MRP in the sheet must equal the MRP printed on the pack, and be consistent with what you sell at on Amazon, Flipkart and offline. Guides note that even a small discrepancy between sheet and pack is enough to trigger a rejection, and that price inconsistency across channels is something the platforms watch and can penalise through reduced visibility. If you change MRP, change the artwork, the sheet and every other channel in the same week.

Shelf life at inwarding. This is the field that most often causes a listing to pass and then fail at the dark store. Per 2026 guides:

Two implications. A product with a short total life (say a 90-day bakery item) cannot meet Blinkit's 90 to 120 days unless it is shipped almost on the day of manufacture, and the category manager may ask for a different cut-off or decline the SKU. And the shelf-life field must be the true total life from the pack, because the cut-off is computed from it; entering 12 months for a 6-month product produces an inwarding rejection on every consignment. Expiry type (best before versus use by) and date format on the pack (MM/YY versus DD/MM/YYYY) are also read at inwarding; keep them consistent across batches.

How do category mapping and packaging fields work?

Category. Each app has its own tree, and the node you choose determines the attribute set, the storage zone and where the product appears. A protein bar listed under "Snacks" and one under "Health and Nutrition" get different neighbours, different filters and different category managers. Map to the node where your closest competitor sits, and ask the category manager if unsure; a wrong node is a soft rejection that costs a review cycle. Some categories are gated (alcohol-adjacent, OTC health, baby food) and need extra licences before NPI opens.

Packaging weight and dimensions. Dark stores allocate bins and rider bags on the gross weight and cuboid dimensions you declare. Measure the sellable unit as shipped, with the unit in the template (grams and centimetres are standard), and declare the case configuration (units per inner, inners per case) because POs are raised in cases. None of the three publishes a hard weight ceiling on public pages; in practice very heavy or bulky items (large water packs, 10 kg rice) are handled by category exception rather than the standard flow, and a declared weight that differs from the scale at inwarding is a common rejection. Fragile items need a packaging note and often a secondary sleeve; leakage in a rider bag gets a SKU delisted quickly.

Why do quick commerce listings get rejected?

1. Barcode problems. No GS1 EAN, an internal or QR code, a duplicate across variants, or a barcode placed where the dark store scanner cannot read it (folds, seams, dark backgrounds).
2. MRP mismatch between sheet, pack image and other channels.
3. Shelf life blank, wrong, or too short for the platform's inwarding rule.
4. Image quality: not readable at tile size, lifestyle as hero, wrong variant shown, text overlays.
5. Missing FSSAI or Legal Metrology data on food and packaged goods.
6. Weight or dimension errors discovered at inwarding.
7. Category mismatch or a gated category without the licence.
8. Entity name inconsistencies across GST, FSSAI and bank documents at the brand level, which hold every SKU.

Fix order: barcode and compliance fields, then MRP and shelf life, then images and titles. Once live, fill rate against POs becomes the metric that keeps a SKU on the shelf, and a listing that was rushed through NPI with a wrong case configuration is the usual reason fill rate starts low.

FAQ

What image size do Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart need? None publishes a figure. The working standard in 2026 guides and our submissions is a square front-of-pack on white at 1000 by 1000 px or more that stays legible at 200 by 200 px, plus a back-of-pack and a picker image.

How much shelf life must be left at inwarding? Per third-party 2026 guides: 90 to 120 days remaining on Blinkit, and roughly 60% of total life on Zepto and Instamart. Your category manager's figure for your category is the binding one.

Is a GS1 barcode mandatory? In practice yes on all three: a GS1-registered EAN-13 or UPC-A on every unit. Internal codes, QR codes and PDF417 are not accepted for inwarding.

What is the title format? Brand, product, variant, pack size, with standard units: "Brand Almond Milk Unsweetened 1 l". No adjectives, no repeated brand, no MRP in the title.

What is NPI? New Product Introduction: the catalogue submission and review step each platform runs before a SKU is approved for its first purchase order. Blinkit is reported to take three to seven days; the others give no figure.

Can I use the same catalogue file for all three apps? Keep one master sheet with every field in this guide, then export to each portal's template. The data is the same; the column names, category trees and shelf-life rules differ.

Getting SKUs live on Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart

Quick commerce catalogues are won on data discipline: one GS1 barcode per SKU, MRP copied from the pack and consistent everywhere, a true shelf-life figure checked against each platform's inwarding rule, accurate weight and dimensions, and a front image that reads at thumbnail size. Do that and NPI is a formality, and the work moves to POs and fill rate. If you would rather have the catalogue built, the NPI managed and the account run across all three apps, see our quick commerce account management service.