Abstract

The case study “Swiggy’s Delivery Model” discusses how online food delivery company Swiggy used technology to power its delivery model. Swiggy was the brainchild of two engineers who were staying away from home and were struggling to get good food delivered at their doorstep. The duo worked on the idea of hassle-free food delivery, giving rise to Swiggy in 2014. Swiggy initially started taking online orders from customers in the Koramangala locality in Bengaluru which housed some of the best restaurants in the city. It gradually expanded across Bengaluru and other Indian cities like Delhi, Pune, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, and more. It launched its mobile application in May 2015. The case describes how Swiggy created a system that connected all the three partners in the delivery model – Delivery Executives (DEs), customers, and restaurant partners – seamlessly. The case also discusses the challenges Swiggy encountered when it began scaling up in 2016 and the initiatives such as just in time assignment, next order assignment, and batching that it took to overcome the challenges. The case concludes with Swiggy’s plans for the future such as diversifying into medicines and grocery and the use of artificial intelligence technology (AI) for further scaling up and expansion.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• How a startup company sensed opportunities in the business environment and seized them to launch new services
• How a startup company uses technology to power its business model
• How an entrepreneur overcomes the challenges in a competitive business environment
• How startups with innovative business models are disrupting the traditional industries

Keywords

Swiggy; Zomato; Delivery Model; Online Food Delivery; Business Model; Artificial Intelligence; Startup; Entrepreneurship; Business Environment; Just in Time; Batching; Food Panda; Valuation; Application Program Interface; Mobile Application