Swiggy Partners With PhonePe For Digital Transactions: Is Flipkart Entering The Food Delivery Space Soon?

Homegrown online food delivery startup Swiggy has now partnered with digital payments company PhonePe. The technology and product teams at Swiggy and PhonePe have collaborated to build a one-tap checkout flow for the former’s users.

Commenting on the partnership, Pradeep Dodle, Head of Business Development, PhonePe said, “An increasing number of consumers are relying on online food ordering platforms like Swiggy for their Food and Beverage needs. Our customised and seamless payment flows on Swiggy will help these consumers place their orders faster.”

At present, the integration has been completed only on its Android application and will be launched on the comapny’s website, mobile site and iOS app in a few weeks. This is the first step for PhonePe in the Indian food delivery market.

On the association, Anuj Rathi, Vice President, Product, Swiggy said, “At Swiggy, we’re continuously working towards delivering delightful customer experiences by making online food ordering more seamless and hassle-free for our consumers everywhere. We are very pleased with this partnership with PhonePe as it gives our users many simplified payment options like UPI and PhonePe wallet, that are fast, safe and cashless.”

Swiggy Continues To Ease Food Ordering And Delivery

Swiggy is working aggressively to increase its dominance in the Indian food delivery market against players such as UberEATS, Foodpanda and Zomato.

Recently, it partnered with ICICI Bank for its delivery partners to enable UPI-based solutions for instant fund transfers on-the-go or choose to deposit cash at automated Cash Deposit Machine (CDM) available at ICICI Bank branches and ATM locations.

Prior to that, in February, the company launched Swiggy Scheduled.This will enable users to plan and order their meals for lunch, dinner, breakfast, or party menus in advance. With this service, the users can place their orders in slots of 30 minutes, a minimum of two hours and maximum of 48 hours in advance for a zero delivery or cancellation fee (before the order becomes live).

In December 2017, the company acqui-hired the management team of Bengaluru-based gourmet Asian food startup 48East in order to further broaden its senior leadership.

Earlier in, it announced the launch Swiggy Access, where restaurant partners can set up kitchen spaces in areas where they do not have a physical presence.

The company also launched its cloud kitchen ‘The Bowl Company’ in January 2017. The cloud kitchen caters to select areas in Bengaluru. It provides pan-Asian, continental and Indian cuisines. The Swiggy platform provided lead generation, payment and delivery of orders for its partner restaurants at The Bowl Company.

On the business front, the company has posted a record increase of 500% in revenues in the last financial year. In February, it raised $100 Mn in Series F funding round led by Naspers. At the time, the company had stated that it will use the funds to further strengthen its market leadership position by introducing a host of unique and advanced products and services.

Is PhonePe’s Integration With Swiggy, Flipkart’s First Step In Food Delivery Segment?

The food delivery market in the country is pegged at $2.9 Bn. Despite the existence of major players such as Zomato, Swiggy, and FoodPanda, the market has attracted companies like ecommerce giant Flipkart and homegrown cab hailing company Ola.

Ola is building the base to officially enter into the food delivery space with its investment in Foodpanda, while Flipkart had been reportedly planning to introduce its one-stop delivery app. The company was said to partner with food, cab and travel aggregators for its ‘app-of-apps’.

In light of the newly formed association between Swiggy and PhonePe, the possibilities of synergies between these three cannot be negated.