Zepto · Strategy · Senior · 45 to 60 minutes

How should Zepto improve profitability now?

Zepto is a quick commerce app that delivers groceries and daily essentials in minutes through a network of dark stores. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

Strategic thinking
Unit economics
Prioritization
Experiment design
Stakeholder judgment

The situation

You are a Group PM at Zepto. The leadership team is preparing for a possible IPO in the next 12 to 18 months, and they need a clear story on improving profitability, not just growing orders. Zepto has strong user love in major cities because of its 10-minute delivery promise, but margins remain under pressure from last-mile delivery costs, discounts, and dark store operating expenses. Finance and operations believe the current model is too costly at low basket sizes. Growth leaders worry that any change to fees, delivery speed, or promotions could hurt retention and push users to Blinkit, Instamart, or larger grocery apps. Your VP asks you to propose a product-led strategy that can show meaningful unit economics improvement within the next 2 to 3 quarters, while preserving the core customer value that made Zepto successful. This is not a single feature decision. You need to recommend where Zepto should change the customer experience, monetization model, and operational levers, and in what order.

What to produce

A 2 page strategy memo.

Your answer must

Define the primary business objective and 2 to 4 guardrail metrics, and explain whether you are optimizing margin per order, overall profitability, or both.
Diagnose the problem using a clear segmentation of users, orders, or geographies, and identify the main profit drivers such as basket size, fees, discounts, delivery cost, and order frequency.
Recommend 3 to 5 initiatives across product experience, monetization, and operations, with a clear rationale for why each should improve unit economics.
Sequence the recommendations over the next 2 to 3 quarters, and explain what you would test first versus later.
Include an experiment and measurement plan for the highest priority ideas, including expected upside, key risks, and how you would detect harm to retention or brand perception.

Constraints

You cannot abandon Zepto's core instant delivery value proposition for users who truly need speed.
The plan must show visible metric improvement within the next 2 to 3 quarters, given IPO preparation in 12 to 18 months.
Do not assume major acquisitions, a full logistics rebuild, or a large increase in operating spend.
The strategy must avoid a sharp decline in user growth or retention in core markets.

Format

Use sections titled goal, diagnosis, strategy, sequencing, experiments, and risks.

How Zepto actually played it

A strategy case on improving Zepto unit economics through product experience, monetization and operations while heading toward an IPO.

Profitability has product levers such as basket size and fees
Delivery cost and discounts are the core drag
Combine experience and monetization changes carefully

Built from If you are a PM at Zepto, how would you attain profitability? by Sreerag Panat.