Zepto Café Rolls Out Across India, To Deliver Quality Food in 10 minutes

Gurgaon-based food delivery platform Zomato is preparing to integrate generative artificial intelligence (AI) into its range of services.

According to media reports, Zomato has initiated trials with AI technology to enhance the overall customer experience.

"Sources familiar with the matter revealed that Zomato, along with its quick commerce platform Blinkit, plans to recruit engineers specializing in machine learning, data science, and natural language processing to build AI-driven products," shared ET in its report.

The company has also appointed a dedicated head of AI product development to lead these endeavors.

Moreover, Zomato is said to be considering the integration of AI technology into multiple customer-facing aspects such as search functions and notifications, as well as backend tools including product photography and customer support.

The aim is to improve the overall customer experience across both Zomato and Blinkit platforms. The company plans to develop and implement these AI tools accordingly.

A spokesperson from Zomato has confirmed the upcoming AI development by acknowledging that the company has been refining neural networks over the past year.

These neural networks are utilized to predict various factors, including food preparation and delivery time, among other functionalities.

Likewise, Blinkit has leveraged machine learning techniques to streamline supply chain expenses and minimize delivery durations.

The company is also actively exploring the potential of generative AI. As an example, Blinkit now provides an extensive range of recipes along with the corresponding ingredients, made possible through generative AI, on its mobile application.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Zomato is engaged in partnerships with notable companies including Google, Adobe, OpenAI, and Microsoft to drive advancements in AI technology.

The spokesperson for Zomato mentioned that the company has been actively recruiting engineers with expertise in machine learning for several years.

 Zomato is continuously on the lookout for skilled engineers who can contribute to the development of innovative models that enhance customer satisfaction and optimize operational efficiency.

Notably, Albinder Dhindsa, the CEO of Blinkit, emphasized in a recent blog post that a specialized team, consisting of engineers and a product manager, has recently developed 'Recipe Rover.'

This cutting-edge engine, powered by ChatGPT and Midjourney technologies, offers recipe recommendations and aids users in identifying the required ingredients. Dhindsa's blog post highlighted the successful creation of this innovative tool by the dedicated team at Blinkit.

Milkbasket, the Grocery and milk delivery startup, has acquired Veggie India, Noida-based grocery delivery platform, for an undisclosed amount. This acquisition is in line with Milkbasket's strategy to strengthen its foothold in the Delhi NCR region and expand its household base to over 1,00,000. 

As part of the deal, all Veggie India employees, including the founders, Jainendra Upadhyay and Shailendra Upadhyay, will be joining Milkbasket. 

Veggie India’s acquisition expands Milkbasket’s customer base to 75,000.

Anant Goel, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Milkbasket, said, "The acquisition is in line with our growth plans for 2019 and adds further strength and distribution capabilities to the existing business."

Founded in 2018, Veggie India is operated by Ocado Garden Fresh Pvt Ltd. An online grocery delivery platform has a presence in Noida and Ghaziabad.

"Jainendra and Shailendra have done a remarkable job with Veggie India, and within a year of operations, the company has acquired a substantial business in their region with loyal customers. I am certain that their experience will be beneficial to the company, as Milkbasket embarks on an even aggressive growth path," Goel added.

After capturing a lion’s share of India’s online food-delivery market, Swiggy is all set to widen its delivery diversification strategy.

The firm which has been looking to start deliveries for other categories such as medicines and grocery is all set to capture a larger share of the delivery pie by extending the service across the entire hyperlocal delivery market, according to two people familiar with the unfolding of this new business line.

ET had first reported in its edition dated April 26, 2018 that the Bengaluru-based food-delivery firm was looking to diversify its delivery operations beyond food into other categories.

“Swiggy is launching a concierge-like service and will enable buying and delivery of products from any store in the city including pharmacies, electronics, groceries and even flower and gift shops,” said one of the persons cited above. “It will also feature a customer-to-customer pick-up and drop service,” he added.

Currently such a service is offered by Bengaluru-based Dunzo which is backed by Google and Quikr as part of its Quikr Easy platform pitting Swiggy directly with the former.

The pilot for Swiggy’s diversified utility delivery play is likely to be rolled out by October-November across NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai and will help with further optimisation of its 55,000- member strong fleet. The move is expected to add significant muscle to Swiggy’s delivery volume, which is over 14 million orders per month across food delivery alone and also aid its topline strongly. “Swiggy is expecting to grow this business vertical significantly to almost 15-20% of their revenues over the next 2 years,” said the person cited above.

Swiggy declined to comment on details of the new initiatives and its scale. However, a spokesperson for the firm said, “At Swiggy, enabling convenience for our consumers is at the core of how we operate. We’re constantly experimenting with ways in which we can do that better while providing them with a delightful experience.”

Swiggy recently raised $210 million in a round led by DST Global, Naspers, Meituan-Dianping and Coatue Management that valued the firm at $1.3 billion.

Swiggy’s plans to diversify its delivery offering and build a unified delivery platform comes on the back of increased Chinese investor play in India, including Meituan-Dianping, Didi Chuxing and Alibaba (through its payment affiliate Ant Financial), which have backed Swiggy, Ola and Zomato, respectively. These investors have been increasingly focussed on pushing up volumes as they look to recreate China’s ondemand delivery success story in India.

Swiggy’s strategy is reflective of its investor Meituan-Dianping’s China business model, which offers deliveries and services across a host of categories, including groceries, beauty salon, payments and ride-hailing, even as food remains its highest-frequency delivery category by volume and value.

Gurugram -based rival Zomato has also been increasingly looking to boost its delivery volume for its delivery platform through various subscription-based monetisation models including Zomato Treats and Piggy-Bank specifically targeted towards building customer stickiness for its delivery business.

Britain’s digital supermarket Ocado has claimed that U.S. retailer Kroger had signed an exclusive deal to incorporate its technology for delivery of groceries.

As per the deal, the U.S. company will acquire 5 percent stake in Ocado, it said on Thursday.

In order to compete with online grocery delivery firms such as BigBasket, Grofers and even larger players like Amazon Now and Amazon Pantry, the country’s biggest retailer, Future Group is launching an e-commerce application for Easyday members, resembling Amazon’s paid subscription service Amazon Prime.

The Kishore Biyani-owned retail chain will cater to the daily and weekly requirements of consumers such as fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy items and others.

“Fruits and vegetables are a great way to get customers frequently. They are daily products. We want the first mover advantage,” said Vinay Bhatia, CEO, group loyalty and analytics, Future Group. “Delivering fresh fruits and vegetables from a central warehouse to customers’ house (which most e-commerce players do at present) is unimaginable,” he added.

The retailer intends to use its neighbour format stores Easyday for delivery. The stores’ service customers within a radius of 2-2.5 kms and the retailer plan to increase its network drastically. Easyday club membership programme charges Rs 999 as an annual membership fee, for which members get 10% discount on all purchases.

The app, which will be launched in the coming weeks, will also offer them the convenience of shopping from their homes. The company at present has more than 950 stores and the target is to take it to 10,000 by 2022. Prior to this, the group has had several unsuccessful attempts at e-commerce, with its first attempt Future Bazaar and Big Bazaar Direct shutting operations. The company had later acquired online furniture retailer FabFurnish to market its brand HomeTown.

Food and grocery account for almost half the overall retail basket in the country. Although online penetration is still less than 1%, it has high growth potential. Morgan Stanley expects the grocery and food delivery market to reach an online penetration rate of 4% by 2020, touching gross merchandise (GMV) of $19 billion, or about Rs 1.2 lakh crore, making it the largest online category after electronics and apparel.

In a fresh funding, Grocery delivery Instacart has raised $200 million, boosting its valuation and providing new resources for the startup to compete against heavyweight Amazon.com Inc.

The San Francisco-based company Instacart that shops for and delivers groceries from about 200 retailers including Target Corp and Costco Wholesale Corp, said the new funding values the company at about $4.2 billion. That's up from the $3.4 billion valuation the company commanded when it raised $400 million nearly a year ago.

In the new round Coatue Management led the deal and included Glade Brook Capital Partners and existing investors. Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Whole Foods Market, among other investors have invested in Instacart previously.

Instacart allows shoppers to order groceries online via their app that are delivered to their home the same day. The company makes money through delivery fees and also through promotions and coupon deals it has with a number of brands including General Mills Inc, Coca-Cola Co and Pepsico Inc.

But Instacart faces uncertainty with the recent acquisition of Whole Foods by Amazon. Whole Foods has been one of Instacart's largest and most important grocery supply partners after the two signed a multiyear deal between the startup in 2016 for delivery provider for most Whole Foods goods. But Amazon, which has been steadily pushing into grocery delivery, said last week it is testing free two-hour delivery of Whole Foods groceries to Amazon Prime customers in certain U.S. cities.