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Swiggy and Zomato are both assessing several new services as the food and grocery delivery majors diversify beyond their core businesses, people in the know told ET. Bengaluru-based Swiggy is all set to launch a pilot programme for a services marketplace, labelled ‘Yello’, which will host professionals such as lawyers, therapists, fitness trainers, astrologers, dieticians, according to sources in the know. The company, which is slated to list on the bourses on November 13, is yet to decide if this service will be spun off into a separate app or kept on the main Swiggy platform, these people added.
It is also testing a premium membership service called ‘Rare’, for affluent customers providing them access to high-end events such as Formula 1 races, music concerts, upscale art exhibitions, in addition to VIP hospitality and priority reservations at luxury restaurants. For Swiggy, these moves mark a clear diversification beyond its core offerings. Zomato has previously been bold in its diversification moves by buying Paytm’s events and ticket business for Rs 2,048 crore .
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ETtech Meanwhile, Zomato is also trying out a concierge-like service to help users place online food orders over WhatsApp. Human customer relationship agents will provide the Gurgaon-based company’s new service instead of its usual approach of deploying chatbots, according to a person directly aware who said the company is also hiring specifically for these roles. Also Read: Zomato launches new feature, Food Rescue, to reduce food wastage Swiggy and Zomato offered no comment to ET’s queries on the developments.
Dynamic markets Zomato, which went public in July 2021, is currently trading with a market capitalisation of Rs 2.2 lakh crore. On November 8, its stock ended at Rs 249.
10 on the BSE, 2.4% down from its previous close. Swiggy's IPO, which closed on November 8, valued the company at around Rs 95,000 crore.
The Bengaluru-based company’s superapp approach is different from Zomato’s strategy of building distinct brands for its numerous services. Its main app currently houses its food delivery vertical as well as quick commerce unit Instamart, Dineout, hyperlocal parcel delivery operations Swiggy Genie and various other experiments. Experts are of the view that online platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy need to constantly search for the next area of growth.
“They have shown the market that their core businesses work but these businesses will eventually scale up to a level where growth is not as fast, we have seen that happen with food delivery. Quick commerce will also one day reach that point maybe in a few years,” said a Mumbai-based analyst with a global brokerage firm. On Swiggy’s ‘Yello’ plans, a person aware of the matter said that there are “no dedicated platforms to find service professionals online where the information is vetted, and it is easy to interact with them in one place.
Google does this well to a certain extent for offline and geotagged services but beyond that there is no one go-to option for online services.” Zomato-owned Blinkit is also building a platform for handymen services such as plumbers, electricians and carpenters that will likely compete with another NCR-based startup Urban Company. In March last year Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal stepped down from Urban Company's board to avoid any conflict of interest.
Diversification pays Goyal-led Zomato, which started out as an online restaurant listing platform, has undertaken several pivots and recalibrations over the years. In addition to the mainstay food delivery business, the firm’s acquisition of quick commerce platform Blinkit in 2022 marked its entry in the rapidly growing 10-minute delivery space. Prior to that, it had also entered the business-to-business grocery delivery segment through Hyperpure, which is among its fastest growing verticals today.
Speaking at The Economic Times Startup Awards 2024 in October, Goyal had pointed out that with the Rs 2,048-crore acquisition of Paytm’s Insider business, Zomato now has four full businesses, compared to 3.5 earlier, referring to the company’s nascent going-out vertical. It is soon expected to launch a standalone app—District—for this business.
In October, Swiggy launched a 10-minute food delivery service Bolt , through which it is offering deliveries of a limited set of items from select restaurants. Swiggy had started its own cloud kitchens under the Bowl Company brand, which it shuttered in 2022 as it was looking to reduce costs. Zomato eventually shut down its intercity food delivery service Legends earlier this year.
The firm has also been working on a hyperlocal logistics platform, which it has been tinkering with since last year, ET has reported..
