Swiggy widens scope, launches Stores

Bengaluru, Feb 12 (IANS) Swiggy, domestic online food ordering and delivery app, on Tuesday launched Stores - a platform where one can order groceries, health supplements, meat and other daily amenities to be delivered at users' doorsteps.

"Swiggy Stores extends the option of ordering food from nearby restaurants to anything from any store across your city," Sriharsha Majety, Co-Founder and CEO of Swiggy, wrote in a blog-post.

Stores would connect people to every store, retailer or brand -- both online and offline -- and deliver goods within an hour, Majety claimed.

"We're taking first step by launching Stores across Gurugram and will deliver from over 3,500 outlets across the city. We've partnered with over 200 stores in categories like fruits and vegetables to florists and pet care stores," Majety said.

Swiggy has partnered with brands like Apollo Pharmacy, Health HK Art, Guardian Pharmacy, and online meat ordering platform Licious and Ferns N Petals.

"We are launching Stores in beta for now, while we fine-tune the service to make sure it meets the standards that we, at Swiggy, hold ourselves to," Majety said.

The platform, made available within the main Swiggy app, has also been designed to act as a directory of popular stores and lists bestsellers, the post said.

Swiggy's new platform comes amid controversies ignited by hundreds of restaurant owners sending a petition to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) alleging wrongdoings by food delivery companies.

The petition, first reported in January, accused Swiggy, Zomato, Uber Eats and Foodpanda of misusing their dominance by engaging in practices like deep discounting, in-house kitchens and internal sourcing.