Zepto ads agency for D2C brands: we run the ads, not your stock

You need a live Zepto catalogue before any ad can run

Zepto says a brand is onboarded within 15 business days if it meets Zepto's selection criteria, and that onboarding can take up to 45 days around major sale events. The documents include a PAN card, a GSTIN certificate, a cancelled cheque, an authorised signatory signature and the trademark certificate or a brand authorisation letter.

Until the products are live, there is nothing to advertise. Ads are the second step, after listing and stock.

We run the ads, not your stock

Some agencies sell quick commerce as a full channel: onboarding, catalogue, pricing, inventory and ads. Others sell only the advertising layer. We are the second kind. We plan, run and report the ads on Zepto, Blinkit and Instamart. We do not run onboarding, catalogue, inventory or dark-store availability.

That split matters because stock decides what the ads can do. An agency that runs only ads cannot fix a stockout, and you should know that before you hire one.

Advertise only in the cities where you are in stock

Quick commerce delivers from a dark store near the buyer. An ad shown where your product is out of stock spends money on a buyer who cannot order it. Plan the budget city by city, and pause a city when stock runs out.

Compare paid orders with organic orders before you scale

A shopper who is already searching and ready to order makes quick commerce ROAS look high. Part of that order would have come anyway. Look at paid and organic orders for the same city and week, and put more money behind the campaigns that add orders on top of organic sales.

What Zepto ads cost depends on the budget you set, not on a fixed fee

Media Ant, a media-buying platform, publishes that advertising on Zepto starts at Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 for smaller campaigns (themediaant.com, read 2 October 2026). That is a third-party figure for ad spend, and Zepto can change its terms. Your agency fee is a separate line, and the ad spend is never part of it.

When to hand Zepto ads to someone else

One product line in a few cities is easy to run yourself. Outside help earns its fee when you sell across Zepto, Blinkit and Instamart as well as Amazon or Flipkart, and need one plan for where each rupee goes.

We work on a monthly retainer, or on revenue share, where the fixed fee is 50% of our usual rate plus 5% to 10% of marketplace revenue.