Swiggy has pulled the plug from groceries, fruits, vegetables and other vital supplies in around 100 cities. The service was bundled with Swiggy Stores and launched from Gurugram two years ago. The move signals a move away from a marketplace to the dark store model. Swiggy would continue to run dark stores under the Instamart brand name.
Food and fresh farm services are no longer listed in the native app, according to an email Swiggy sent to users. team Entrackr also noted that hyper-local stores selling groceries and fresh produce are no longer listed in the app. Interestingly, even Zomato has been scaling down its Zomato Market grocery range since June.
While Swiggy Stores are no longer operational, users can still order groceries and other items through Swiggy Genie. Users can also send packages and documents from one point to another through Swiggy Genie.
“We expanded our services across the country during the lockdown as consumers turned to Swiggy for not just groceries but other essentials as well. With movement restrictions eased, we are resetting food deliveries and focusing on offerings like Swiggy Genie, “Swiggy’s spokesman said in a response to Entrackr’s Requests.
Specialty stores like meat, seafood, pet care, and gourmet will continue to operate, according to the spokesman.
In April 2020, Swiggy introduced darkened stores under the Urban Kirana brand, which were later renamed Instamart. According to Entrackr According to sources, the company would ramp up the dark store model as it offers a good margin compared to the market model. Dark shops also allow faster deliveries.
Swiggy claims to deliver most Instamart orders in under 40 minutes in Bengaluru and Gurgaon. It is worth noting that the dark shops only operate in these two cities.
The withdrawal of these industries from the native app came at a time when the e-grocery segment has become highly competitive. Reliance’s Jio Mart dethroned BigBasket within months of its launch as India’s largest e-grocer. Jio Mart places over 700,000 orders daily, while BigBasket and Grofers process over 120,000 and 150,000 orders, respectively.
The e-grocery division may see Tata join as a group is in talks to acquire a majority stake in BigBasket. Grofers and Zomato were also in merger talks, but the talks did not go beyond the preliminary phase.