Expanding further into the hyperlocal delivery space, Swiggy on Monday announced the launch of Instamart, a quick delivery service that promises groceries to be delivered to the user’s doorstep within 45 minutes.
Unlike its earlier grocery-delivery offerings, such as Swiggy Genie and the groceries section within the Swiggy app which rely on existing stores, Instamart will utilise ‘dark’ stores—retail stores that are not open to the public and which exist as fulfilment centres, allowing Swiggy to pull supplies from them quickly and effectively.
“Through Instamart, we want to introduce the convenience grocery category in India. With the fastest deliveries in the segment (30-45 minutes), day and night serviceability (7 am-12 midnight), a wide assortment across categories such as instant meals, snacks, ice creams, beverages, fruits & vegetables, Instamart will address the unmet grocery needs of the time-pressed, convenience-seeking urban consumer,” Swiggy said in a release.
Instamart will initially be available in Gurugram, before being expanded to serve customers in Bengaluru, the company said.
Swiggy had earlier experimented with running dark stores through its “Urban Kirana” project, which was reported by EnTrackr in April, and saw dark stores set up in Bengaluru and Gurugram stocking frequently-ordered products.
The need for hyperlocal delivery has never been greater as the COVID-19 pandemic forces many to avoid straying outside for groceries, preferring to order them at home instead.
Competitors in the space include Walmart-owned Flipkart, which launched Flipkart Quick in July promising 90-minute deliveries, and JioMart, which recently crossed two months since launch and reportedly clocks over 400,000 daily orders.
The shift to dark stores is a global one: As many retail outlets report drastically lower footfalls post-pandemic, there has been a trend of retail outlets converting into dark stores across industries.
As home delivery of goods became the norm during the lockdown, Swiggy had also launched an alcohol delivery service in May in Jharkhand and Orissa. It later expanded this service to West Bengal.
