E-commerce behemoth Amazon is focussed on its food delivery expansion plans across the country despite not being able to garner a large market share of the aggressively growing industry. One year since the launch of Amazon’s food delivery service across various pin codes of Bengaluru, the e-tailer told Business Today in an emailed statement that it is planning expansion and targeting to serve millions of customers across the country.
“We recently concluded the third edition of the Amazon Great Foodie Fest between December 17 to 26, 2021 and we are humbled by the response as customers ordered multiple times in a week and have appreciated the end-to-end experience, tamper proof packaging and have made us the most frequently ordered category on Amazon today. While we are happy to note our healthy pace of growth with customers and the increased number of merchants (restaurants), it is still Day 1 and our ambition is to serve millions of customers and partner with restaurants across the country,” Amazon India said in an emailed statement. The statement also allays the concerns of Amazon planning to shut down its food delivery services because of poor response. Inda’s food tech industry has seen a duopoly over last few years with competition heating up between Swiggy and Zomato to garner large market share. The two leading players have also chalked out their path to profitability by increasing commissions from restaurant partners, increasing delivery charges and cutting back on discounts. On the other hand, Amazon has onboarded restaurant partners in Bengaluru by charging commissions at half the rates compared to Swiggy, Zomato and luring customers with free deliveries and cashbacks.
“Since the launch of Amazon Food in Bengaluru last year, customers can now order from a variety of hygiene certified restaurants – comprising handpicked local favourites, national restaurants chains and cloud kitchen brands in 84 pin codes that adhere to the highest standard of safety to ensure our customers remain safe while having a delightful experience,” the company said.
While start-ups like Swiggy and Zomato having expanded services within a quick span of time, Amazon conventionally adopts a new service on a pilot basis and is unlikely to roll back the service considering the market for the food delivery sector has a huge potential. Zomato’s top executives told BT in an earlier interview that the company is focussed on building its core delivery services , and the entry of Amazon, albeit cash rich, will not suppress any business in the face of a large untapped opportunity.