Swiggy plans to launch social commerce vertical ‘Swiggy Bazaar’

Swiggy is in the early stages of launching a new social commerce vertical, named ‘Swiggy Bazaar’.

The leading food delivery app has already posted job alerts on the professional networking platform LinkedIn to hire for Swiggy Bazaar. According to the job posting, the app is looking to set up a vertical that will focus on community group buying, as far as groceries and fresh supplies go.

The post mentions, “Swiggy Bazaar is our latest foray in the trillion-dollar grocery market and will be a community group buying destination.”

It adds that over the last year, due to COVID-induced lockdown, consumers have discovered new ways to access better foods. Some of these behaviours have proved to be resilient, creating tailwinds that Swiggy Bazaar will aim to ride.

“Being a social commerce business, Swiggy Bazaar will experiment with novel community-based marketing strategies...”

As per a recent RedSeer report, India’s grocery market will be worth $850 billion in 2025. E-groceries account for three per cent of the market, which amounts to a little over $25 billion in market value.

The announcement comes at a time when India’s e-grocery market is booming. Recently, Shopsy, the Walmart-owned e-commerce marketplace Flipkart’s social commerce venture, also announced foray into grocery market.

Swiggy Bazaar’s core team will be organised around three pillars - product & engineering, community & marketing, and business operations. As ‘manager - community’, the person will be an integral part of the second pillar and drive all things ‘community’.

Typically, social commerce means an online media that supports social interaction and user contributions to assist online buying and selling of products and services.

The brand states that being a social commerce business, this offering will experiment with novel community-based marketing strategies that the manager will help conceptualise and execute. The manager will also lead the team of other community managers from Swiggy.

According to media reports, Swiggy has been hiring aggressively for the new business, with the initial team already in place. However, it is not the first time that the company is experimenting with the grocery segment.

When COVID hit, the app had shifted its focus to essential products, like packed food, household requirements and groceries. It breathed new life into its grocery arm ‘Swiggy Stores’, which lists products from local shops through ‘Instamart’, as well as ‘Swiggy Genie’.