Why is Swiggy asking customers to recommend meat stores?

Swiggy is asking its customers to suggest the meat store of their choice. Swiggy’s interest in delivering fresh meat is yet another attempt by the platform to expand the horizon of the conveniences it offers. What started as a food ordering and delivery startup is a multifaceted startup today – in a way, a lot of startups rolled into one.

Apart from food delivery, Swiggy entered online grocery ordering like BigBasket and Grofers. Swiggy’s local logistics arm Genie does the job of Dunzo. Swiggy now delivers alcohol. It is bringing local grocers online, like Jiomart. The buzz is, Swiggy might just get into delivering Milk, like Milk Basket.

Swiggy’s interest in the meat delivery and discovery space takes it right through the domain of startups like Licious, FreshToHome, Zappfresh and TenderCuts. Ever since their launches, these startup have been honing their ‘fish and meat’ delivery game – from sourcing the products to logistics.

“We want to be the king of convenience in the hyperlocal market, and want to eradicate unnecessary trips for consumers,” Swiggy’s chief operating officer Vivek Sunder was quoted saying.

Sunder’s statement adds up especially because Swiggy’s seeking recommendation from existing customers is just one of the steps towards setting the backend integration right. Like its portfolio of restaurants, Swiggy now has a portfolio of meat processors/butchers. Efforts are being put to expand the list which already includes organised and branded meat sellers like Republic of Chicken, The Chick Choice, etc.

But would it be colliding with the fish and meat delivery startups? While Swiggy is primarily and aggregator, these startups are producers themselves. They source the produce from contract farms, fisheries and fishermen – process it in their own factories and deliver it themselves. Some like Licious have their own branded valued-added products like spreads, etc. These brands have their own identities and promises too. For example, the promise of hygiene and quality.

Also, they have their offline stores across the cities. That way, it doesn’t come as a surprise that platforms like Licious and FreshToHome have already found their place in Swiggy’s portfolio of partner sellers.