Swiggy Instamart: Is Quick Commerce A Threat to Local Businesses?

Swiggy is all over the news. The Food delivery giant is expanding its Instamart platform to 76 more cities across india. The plan is to launch a standalone Instamart app. The Instamart app will help users to access its services faster and more efficiently. Instamart is available within the Swiggy app for now and will be there later also. Swiggy is a major food delivery platform and also serves the quick-commerce and dining out categories. It has over 5 lakh delivery partners across 680 cities. The Instamart service delivers groceries and essentials within 10 mins. Swiggy has previously launched standalone apps for services like Swiggy Dineout and Swiggy Genie.

Impact of Swiggy Instamart on local shopkeepers

Swiggy Instamart promises 10-minute deliveries and access to nearly 50,000 products. This may be a threat to a lot of local shopkeepers and traditional grocery shopping methods. These local shops could see a drastic decline in foot traffic and sales. Apart from this the discounts available online cannot be matched by local shopkeepers. 

Moreover, the convenience offered by Instamart's quick delivery service might lead to a shift in consumer behavior. Once the consumer is comfortable with online platforms the offline shopping decreases automatically. They will favour online shopping considering the comfort and deals. This may increase the struggle of the local shopkeepers and especially those who depend on the heavy foot fall of clientele.

The offline market faces a lot of pressure due to the rapid increase of online platforms like Swiggy Instamart. Online businesses are excelling in this smart era. Online platforms are continuously growing as there is a surge of demand by the consumer. Consumers opt for easy services. Home deliveries are convenient for them. 

Therefore the local shops are seeing a drop in sales leading to a recession in certain offline sectors. The local shopkeepers find it difficult to keep up with the online platforms as they already witness a reduced footfall of customers.There is an ongoing trend being followed towards e-commerce platforms. This will eventually result in oversaturation of online options and small businesses will find it difficult to compete.

Swiggy Instamart: A Market Strategy

Swiggy is focussing on becoming a “house of apps”, by  expanding its Instamart platform. Swiggy wants to enhance user experience and accessibility and maintain its market position. It is basically a dual approach where they will reach a bigger audience and also capitalise on the growing demand of Online quick-commerce platforms as people have less patience. It will keep the existing user base from the main Swiggy app. This will benefit them as they already have a good customer base. Swiggy’s Instamart is the key player in the quick-commerce space.