The short definition, also called price parity, price difference
The difference between what the same pack costs on two apps, or between an app's price and the MRP. It is meaningful only for the same pack at the same time.
Part of the topic: Guide: discount depth and price against MRP
What a price gap means
Shoppers compare prices, and so do retailers. A price gap is the number behind that comparison: how much more one place charges than another for the same thing. A gap can be between apps, between pin codes on one app, or between a selling price and the MRP.
Price parity is the aim of keeping gaps small across channels. The price gap is the measurement that shows whether the aim holds.
How to measure a price gap
Confirm the pack first: same product, same size, same variant. Read both prices within the same hour, and at the same pin code where prices vary by place. Subtract the reference price from the other price and divide by the reference. Log the pack, the time and the pin code with every gap.
A worked example, with invented numbers. One 500 g pack sells for 96 on App A and 104 on App B at the same pin code, read ten minutes apart. With App A as the reference, the gap is 8, or about 8.3%. An hour later App B drops to 98, and the gap falls to about 2.1%.
How it shows up in India
The same 500 g pack can sell at different prices on Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart in one pin code, and the order can flip within a day. Marketplace prices for the same item can differ again, and a reseller's price is not the brand's price. Pack mismatches create most false gaps.
What a brand should check
- That both prices belong to the same pack before the gap is used.
- How long a gap lasts, not only its size on one reading.
- Gaps by pin code on quick-commerce apps, not one city figure.
Common mistakes
- Comparing two pack sizes and calling the difference a gap.
- Reading the two prices hours apart.
- Taking a single reading to a retailer as proof of a pattern.
Do not confuse with
- Discount depth. A price gap compares the same pack in two places. Discount depth compares one selling price with the printed MRP of that pack.
What Rewalto's own readings show
From 19 October to 25 October 2026, across 4,007 grocery staple listings from 476 brands priced by weight, the listing at the upper quartile cost 3.3 times as much per 100 g as the listing at the lower quartile. That spread is a gap between different products, which is why a price gap is only read for the same pack.
As of 25 October 2026. Source: Grocery staples price ladder, Rewalto's shelf readings.
Published 28 October 2026.