Swiggy begins pilots on an #OrderDirect product

Swiggy has begun onboarding restaurants to its new product called ‘Swiggy Direct’, opening up its technology and logistics infrastructure to eateries taking orders directly from consumers.

Several restaurants have been running a campaign tagged #OrderDirect urging consumers to skip Swiggy and Zomato and place delivery orders directly with them. They have the tacit support of technology platforms such as Thrive, Peppo and DotPe, which equip restaurants to accept orders directly from consumers but rely on third-party logistics firms for deliveries.

Swiggy’s new product puts it directly in competition with these platforms. But unlike them, Swiggy wants to own the deliveries—which it says would mean better consumer experience.

More Context: Apart from the campaign, the National Restaurant Association of India has approached the Competition Commission charging the online aggregators with anti-competitive practices such as data masking, exorbitant commissions, deep discounting, violation of platform neutrality, and lack of transparency.

Swiggy’s move also coincides with Zomato’s upcoming public share offering. In a pre-IPO press briefing, analysts tracking Zomato had raised questions around the direct-order campaign.