Zomato to enter Grocery Biz, to be called Zomato Market

Gurgaon-based food-tech player Zomato is planning to enter into the grocery bandwagon as the category sees a major uptick amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

According to reports, the online-delivery platform is in talk with Grofers and BigBasket to sell food products and essentials on its platform by facilitating their deliveries.

“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,” shared a person aware of the development.

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, revealed the person aware about the development.

Also, Swiggy already 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,” added the person.

The pilot project is suppose to start in Delhi-NCR to begin with.

However, an email sent to Zomato is still awaiting a reply.