Zomato smells opportunity in groceries, pings Grofers, BigBasket

Food-delivery and restaurant discovery app Zomato is jumping on to the grocery bandwagon as the category sees a major uptick amid the Covid-19 outbreak. ET has learnt that Zomato is in talks to partner with e-grocers, Grofers and BigBasket, to sell food products and essentials on its platform by facilitating their deliveries.

This is a major step towards diversification and a move to keep demand high at a time when most businesses are registering a slowdown. Online food ordering has taken a hit in the past week with order numbers falling by as much as 20%.

Zomato Market, as it is being tentatively called, is expected to go live by next week, said a person familiar with the matter.

“The delivery fleet needs to be better optimised at this time of uncertainty. Considering grocery is in high demand, this makes sense for all players involved,” a person in the know who did not want to be named, said.

ET reported earlier that Grofers, BigBasket and mom-and-pop stores have seen demand surge over the past week on the back of panic buying. Swiggy has a presence in the grocery segment and has been ramping up efforts to go beyond food delivery for a while now.

For Zomato, however, the effort around grocery will be a first, as the company has taken a more focussed approach to build its entire business around the food delivery and restaurant ecosystem.

“Offline stores which work with Grofers will be listed on Zomato’s app. Consumers can then place an order on Zomato and deliveries will be fulfilled by them. They will start the pilot in Delhi NCR to begin with..,” said another person close to the matter.

Grofers collaborates with momand-stores and other physical stores to procure products. Zomato’s talks with BigBasket are still to be firmed up, sources indicated.

When contacted, Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato and Albinder Dhindsa, CEO of Grofers did not comment. BigBasket’s CEO Hari Menon did not respond to ET’s query seeking comment.

Source:- Economic Times

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