Bengaluru-based food delivery app, Swiggy has now expanded into a grocery-delivery segment: Swiggy Genie. The COVID-19 lockdown has created a necessity for home delivery of groceries. And this is an opportunity to branch out its business.
The delivery of groceries and essential items would greatly help people stuck indoors in the ongoing lockdown. This is of vital importance in cities and towns designated as coronavirus hotspots. The company has announced that the new operation Swiggy Genie has kicked off in tier-1 and tier-2 cities.
The food delivery startup had ventured into grocery delivery in 2019 with its Stores feature. This was limited to Bengaluru and Gurugram. Now it has decided to expand it across the country. To ensure this it has re-branded its pick and drop service “Swiggy Go” to “Swiggy Genie”.
A customer can order grocery items (vegetables and fruits), kitchen supplies, personal care items or beverages and snacks from a store of his choice and get it home-delivered by using Swiggy Genie.
Some more features:
This service has another very useful feature. It allows you to deliver a package (lunchbox, documents, supplies) to any other part of the town. The charges are based on distance. Also, the service charges a cancellation fee if the selected store is closed or unable to facilitate a pick-up.
Swiggy has tied up with Vishal Mega Mart, and Marico an FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) brand. It is also in talks with nationwide FMCG brands to make online delivery possible from multiple stores. Its availability of a hyper-local delivery fleet makes this achievable.
Swiggy is directly competing with Zomato in the grocery-delivery segment, making its services available in over 80 cities. In addition, The Swiggy Genie grocery delivery service move will also help retain its customers and further improve brand credibility. Their entry into grocery delivery has also eased the burden of BigBasket and Grofers.
