Swiggy Launches ‘Instamart’ To Deliver Grocery & Essentials Within 45-min

Major food tech Swiggy launched ‘Instamart’ for quick delivery of groceries and daily essentials at one’s doorsteps within 45 minutes. The procurement and delivery will happen via dark stores and Gurugram is the first city where consumers can access the ‘Instamart’ within the Swiggy app.

A Swiggy spokesperson said, “We are currently testing Swiggy Instamart to see how it augments our consumer promise of enabling unparalleled convenience by making grocery delivery more instant and delightful.” He further added, “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.”

These dark stores are traditional retail stores that have been converted to local fulfillment centers where the products are sourced from third parties.

Swiggy had already piloted quick hyperlocal delivery via virtual stores called Urban Kirana. The feature was available in select areas of Gurugram and Bengaluru. Sources say the company might have rebranded Urban Kirana as Instamart.

Bigbasket and Grofers have tried and tested on-demand delivery via dark stores. It would be interesting to see how Swiggy takes up the challenge and makes it a viable business model.

For Swiggy, express delivery service will be an added advantage as it delivers grocery and household items through Swiggy Stores. The move also comes at a time when the demand for near-instant delivery of grocery and daily essentials has gone up. Flipkart and BigBasket have already launched their quick delivery feature while Amazon, Dunzo, and JioMart are likely to join the race soon.

Meanwhile, in terms of daily orders, JioMart has emerged as the largest e-grocer. Last month, the Reliance retail-owned company had claimed that it crossed 4 lakh orders per day. In comparison Bigbasket, with its micro delivery platform, BB Daily delivers around 3 lakhs orders per day while Grofers and Amazon Pantry serves a little over 1 lakh orders daily.