Online food delivery major Swiggy is going beyond delivering just food and starting a concierge-like service. Named Swigyy Stores, this will enable users to order anything from medicines, meat, vegetables and other items from nearby kirana stores or large supermarkets. Swiggy Stores is being piloted in Gurugram for now with about 3,500 stores on-board for the new service. Swiggy's latest move, which comes after its massive $1 billion fund-raise led by Naspers, will make it a direct competitor to Google-backed Dunzo besides larger players like Amazon India, Walmart-owned Flipkart and Alibaba-backed Bigbasket.
Swiggy said it has already partnered with about 200 stores in categories such as fruits and vegetables to florists. HealthKart, Apollo Pharmacy, Licious, and The Moms Co are some of its initial set of merchants going live on Swiggy Stores in Gurugram. Swiggy Stores is still in beta stage.
Swiggy has an active fleet of about 1.25 lakh delivery partners who will be used for the on-demand delivery service from the Bengaluru-based company. These delivery partners will be paid additionally for the Swiggy Stores deliveries. For context, Dunzo is in the middle of closing a fund-raise that could see the Google-backed company raising around Rs 200 crore. Dunzo, over the last 8-12 months, has been expanding outside Bengaluru--its core market with clear dominance. For now, Dunzo is clocking about 1 million tasks a month that range from delivering grocery to picking up a package from your home and delivering to a desired place of choice.
“Today’s announcement takes Swiggy to categories beyond food, where we hope to deliver the same level of delightful experiences to consumers for their everyday needs. It is the first milestone in Swiggy’s vision to elevate the quality of life for the urban consumer by offering unparalleled convenience,” said Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy.