Swiggy looks to extend service across hyperlocal delivery market by November

After capturing a lion’s share of India’s online food-delivery market, Swiggyis all set to widen its delivery diversification strategy.

The firm which has been looking to start deliveries for other categories such as medicines and grocery is all set to capture a larger share of the delivery pie by extending the service across the entire hyperlocal delivery market, according to two people familiar with the unfolding of this new business line.

ET had first reported in its edition dated April 26, 2018, that the Bengaluru-based food-delivery firm was looking to diversify its delivery operations beyond food into other categories.

“Swiggy is launching a concierge-like service and will enable buying and delivery of products from any store in the city including pharmacies, electronics, groceries and even flower and gift shops,” said one of the persons cited above. “It will also feature a customer-to-customer pick-up and drop service,” he added.

Currently, such a service is offered by Bengaluru-based Dunzo which is backed by Google and Quikr as part of its Quikr Easy platform pitting Swiggy directly with the former.

The pilot for Swiggy’s diversified utility delivery play is likely to be rolled out by October-November across NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai and will help with further optimization of it’s 55,000- member strong fleet. The move is expected to add significant muscle to Swiggy’s delivery volume, which is over 14 million orders per month across food delivery alone and also aid its topline strongly. “Swiggy is expecting to grow this business vertical significantly to almost 15-20% of their revenues over the next 2 years,” said the person cited above.

Swiggy declined to comment on details of the new initiatives and its scale. However, a spokesperson for the firm said, “At Swiggy, enabling convenience for our consumers is at the core of how we operate. We’re constantly experimenting with ways in which we can do that better while providing them with a delightful experience.”

Swiggy recently raised $210 million in a round led by DST Global, Naspers, Meituan-Dianping and Coatue Management that valued the firm at $1.3 billion.

Swiggy’s plans to diversify its delivery offering and build a unified delivery platform comes on the back of increased Chinese investor play in India, including Meituan-Dianping, Didi Chuxing and Alibaba (through its payment affiliate Ant Financial), which have backed Swiggy, Ola and Zomato, respectively. These investors have been increasingly focussed on pushing up volumes as they look to recreate China’s on-demand delivery success story in India.

Swiggy’s strategy is reflective of its investor Meituan-Dianping’s China business model, which offers deliveries and services across a host of categories, including groceries, beauty salon, payments, and ride-hailing, even as food remains its highest-frequency delivery category by volume and value.

Gurugram -based rival Zomato has also been increasingly looking to boost its delivery volume for its delivery platform through various subscription-based monetization models including Zomato Treats and Piggy-Bank specifically targeted towards building customer stickiness for its delivery business.

Source:-https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/food-services/swiggy-looks-to-extend-service-across-hyperlocal-delivery-market-by-november/65192343

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