Bengaluru-based foodtech company Swiggy has unveiled its own digital wallet, named ‘Swiggy Money’, to enable a ‘single-click checkout experience’ on its platform.
In a press release, Swiggy said that it was launching the full-fledged digital wallet in partnership with ICICI Bank and will enable Swiggy customers to store money and use for all food orders on Swiggy.
If the Swiggy customer happens to be existing ICICI Bank customers, they can instantly start using the wallet, the release said.
ICICI Bank’s ‘insta wallet service’ powers this wallet and is built on a cloud platform with API integration – Swiggy can instantly create a wallet for its customers.
In case of non-ICICI Bank customers, they can also start using this immediately by accrediting themselves through a government-approved ID to ICICI Bank.
‘Swiggy Money’ users can top-up their wallet using various banking instruments, the company said and added that users would be allowed a single click purchase without multiple authentications.
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First for a food delivery app
In the event of food order value exceeding the wallet balance, users will be given with a ‘split-pay’ option which will enable making payment through a combination of money from their wallet and another payment source/instruments to complete the transaction.
Anand Agrawal, VP Products, Swiggy, said, “providing the best payment and refunds experience is an integral move in tightening up the ordering experience and maintaining best-in-industry repeat rates on our platform that now offers multiple hyperlocal delivery services."
Bijith Bhaskar, Head- Digital Channels & Partnership, ICICI Bank, said, “We are delighted to bring in the industry-first instant digital wallet ‘Swiggy Money’ in association with Swiggy. It offers the convenience of single-click checkout experience to Swiggy’s large consumer base."
He added that this was their third offering, jointly with Swiggy. "A year ago, we had customised an industry-first UPI led payment solution for Swiggy’s delivery partners to transfer funds. We had also introduced UPI-led instant one-click payment for millions of Swiggy’s customers.”
Pivoting for survival
Ever since the lockdown kicked in, Swiggy, which is in 500 cities across India, has come under enormous pressure. With food orders dwindling due to the closure of and restrictions on restuarants, Swiggy had to fire hundreds of its employees across the country.
Swiggy is forced to look beyond food delivery not just because of the pandemic, but also due to the move by restarants to cut down on their dependence on Swiggy and Zomato.
It had to also quickly pivot across businesses. Its newly launched services include ‘Swiggy Grocery’ and ‘Swiggy Genie’.
Swiggy Grocery hopes to tap into the huge demand for home deliverly of groceries due to the curtailment in mobility owing to the lockdown. Swiggy, on its app, under the ‘Grocery’ tab, allows consumers to directly view available stores in their locality and order and get 'no-contact delivery'.
Swiggy Genie offers pickup and drop-off services of packages within select cities. It also delivers essentials, like OTC drugs, to consumers within the city.
Swiggy believes that its new initiatives will help keep revenue and other business metrics up to compensate for the sharp dip in food delivery orders. It is bravely investing money afresh for positioning itself as a mobile-screen conglomerate.
