Abstract

This case study, “Swiggy: Aggressive Advertising and Promotional Strategies Impacting Profitability?” explores the strategic dilemma faced by Swiggy, one of India’s leading food delivery platforms, as it aggressively expanded its advertising and promotional efforts amid intensifying competition and evolving consumer behavior. In an effort to deepen market penetration, enhance brand visibility, and drive user engagement, Swiggy significantly increased its marketing expenditure, particularly on digital advertising, influencer campaigns, IPL partnerships, and meme marketing. While these initiatives contributed to brand recall and user acquisition, they also led to a rise in operational losses, raising questions about the sustainability and effectiveness of such investments. The case examines the balance between short-term customer acquisition through discounts and long-term profitability through customer retention. It also offers an opportunity to analyze promotional ROI, digital strategy, and the broader implications of marketing-led growth in the Indian platform economy.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Examine how digital marketing and promotional strategies are deployed to attract and retain users in the food delivery business.
• Analyze the effectiveness of discount-led promotions versus value-driven branding in influencing customer behavior in the online food delivery sector.
• Evaluate the trade-offs between aggressive promotional spending and long-term profitability in highly competitive platform-based industries.
• Assess how firms in the food delivery business adapt their promotional strategies in response to market saturation, rising costs, and evolving consumer expectations.

Keywords

Digital Marketing; Food Delivery; Promotional Strategy; Advertising Spend; Customer Acquisition; Brand Positioning; Profitability; Hyper-Personalization; Integrated Marketing Communication; Competitive Strategy; Customer Retention; Discount Strategy; Platform Economy; Marketing ROI; Consumer Behavior