From Food Delivery to Multi-Service Platform: The Evolution of Swiggy

Introduction

Swiggy is a popular Indian food delivery platform that has evolved over the years. Initially, the platform only offered food delivery services to customers. However, with time, the company has expanded its services to include other offerings.

In this case study, we'll take a closer look at the evolution of Swiggy and how it has diversified into a multi-service platform.

Swiggy's Early Days

Founding and launch of Swiggy.
The revolutionary app was launched by three people, Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, and Rahul Jaimini, in 2014 and was headquartered in Bangalore. Operated in over 500 Indian metropolises in a shorter period of time than expected.

Soon Swiggy launched "The Bowl Company," its cloud kitchen chain, in January 2017. They started serving with a fresh menu in Bangalore and later expanded it to Hyderabad, Chennai, and Delhi, where the bowl company in Delhi is not functioning currently.

Swiggy launched Swiggy Access, a kitchen incubator business, in November 2017, establishing a network of ready-to-use kitchens for its eatery partners. They planned to take the cloud kitchen concept to nearby reachable cities and implement it through Swiggy Access to provide a variety of foods everywhere possible.

Swiggy acquired the dining and table reservation platform Dine Out from.
Initially, dine-out was started to just book tables for eating, but the evolution of Swiggy resulted in linking the customer with the priority hotels and allowing them to pay through online portals and dine-out passes to customers for special dining experiences.

Swiggy acquired retail distribution company LYNK in 2023. After expanding their company
Too many parts created requirements for fast delivery of orders hence they used LYNK for their fast delivery of orders.
Challenges faced in the early days
However, the company faced several challenges in its early days.

High Delivery Fees:
One of the biggest challenges faced by Swiggy in the early days was high delivery fees. They charged 30 to 35% of the order price as a delivery fee which varied across different places.

Limited Delivery Range:
Another challenge faced by Swiggy was the limited delivery range.
Initially, the availability of delivery was restrained due to the low availability of sources and lack of awareness.

Long Wait Times: Swiggy also faced challenges with long wait times. Limited area coverage also led to a lack of punctual deliveries too.

Competition: Finally, Swiggy faced stiff competition from established players in the market such as Zomato and Foodpanda. During the launch of Swiggy, they committed to the existing food delivery apps which had already been serving for over a year.

Expansion and Growth

The expansion of Swiggy is given as follows
Expansion to other cities in India
Swiggy came in facing a tough time with competitors though they managed to serve orders with delicate delivery persons and sustain a position in the delivery industry. Despite these challenges, Swiggy continued to expand and grow. It expanded to other cities in India, including Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai. Currently, 2.72 lakh restaurants are in a tie-up with Swiggy.

Introduction of new features such as live order tracking and Swiggy Go
The company also introduced new features such as live order tracking and Swiggy Go, a service that allows customers to order anything from anywhere and have it delivered to their doorstep.

Partnership with restaurants to offer exclusive deals
Swiggy also partnered with restaurants to offer exclusive deals and discounts to customers. This helped the company to stand out from its competitors and attract more customers. Additionally, Swiggy received investment from major players in the tech industry, including Naspers and Tencent. Prosus Ventures and Falcon Edge Capital funded the people of Swiggy.

Diversification into a Multi-Service Platform

Introduction of Swiggy Stores for grocery and household item delivery
As Swiggy continued to grow, it began to diversify its services beyond food delivery. In 2018, the company launched Swiggy Stores, which allowed customers to order groceries and household items for delivery. Succeeding and retaining the competition made them launch the grocery store through their app. Which attracted house old shoppers to bring the household required products right to the door through the app.

Launch of Swiggy Genie for on-demand pick-up and drop-off services
Swiggy Genie, a service that provides on-demand pick-up and drop-off services, was launched shortly after. Genie offers to pick up diverse types of orders from a location. Imagine that you could pick up an important document at home. When you need it you need not travel to fetch it. You can use the Genie service to just mark the location to pick up the order and the location to drop off the order. Your document will reach you without disturbing your routine at the workplace.

Acquisition of SuprDaily for milk and daily essentials delivery
In 2019, Swiggy acquired SuprDaily, a startup that specializes in milk and daily essentials delivery. This acquisition helped Swiggy expand its offerings and reach more customers. The suprdaily concept was introduced by two IIT students in Mumbai. When people ordered by 11 pm they decided on either groceries or fruits, vegetables, or eggs. Their orders will be delivered to the customer the next day at 7 am.
According to a TechCrunch report, more than 1,000 Swiggy Access accounts were functional by 2019.

Launch of Instamart for instant grocery delivery
In 2020, Swiggy launched Instamart, an instant grocery delivery service that promises to deliver groceries within 45 minutes. Instant delivery of groceries is made possible through this service. You can pick a list of items for dinner and purchase them through Instamart and receive the list of items as you receive the food within the estimated time. Instant delivery of drinkable and eatable products is possible through Instamart.

Conclusion

Overall, Swiggy's evolution from a food delivery platform to a multi-service platform is a testament to the company's commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction. By diversifying its services and expanding its offerings, Swiggy has become one of India's leading online delivery platforms. However, the company still faces challenges such as competition from other players in the market and the need to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction. Nonetheless, Swiggy's journey so far has been impressive, and its future prospects look bright.