ISSN 2250 – 1959(0Nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) an Internationally Indexed Peer Reviewed & Refereed Journal
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International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology ISSN 2250 – 1959(0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) An Internationally Indexed Peer Reviewed & Refereed Journal Shri Param Hans Education & Research Foundation Trust www.IRJMST.com www.SPHERT.org Published by iSaRa Solutions IRJMST Vol 9 Issue 3 [Year 2018] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) Innovative strategies of startup firms in India - A study on online food delivery companies in India. Dr.Vijaya lakshmi Kanteti, Director, Andhra Mahila Sabha School of Informatics, OU Road, Hyderabad-07 Email : [email protected] Abstract: The present study is a conceptual study made to understand the innovative strategies followed by online food delivery startup companies in India. These startup companies led by young Indians have been inspired to take up various challenges to address the concern areas of Indian consumers and extend them with various products and services at reasonable prices. Indian food delivery market is valued at 15 billion dollars and set for an exponential growth. Food delivery has become a very competitive market in India. The growth of online food ordering delivery platforms by mobile apps has made business men awake and take notice. The type of online delivery service models of four different companies like swiggy, zomato, food panda and Fassos are analysed and it is understood through the study that the future seems brighter for the online food industry, as India catches up with developed markets in terms of changing life styles. Keywords: start ups, Food Delivery, Innovative strategies, online services Introduction: Startups in India have become the new trend setters and talk-of the-town in the global business economy since the past few years. These companies led by young Indians have been inspired to take up various challenges to address the concern areas of Indian consumers and extend them with various products and services at reasonable prices. The tech savvy youth are geared up with a variety of ideations for their startups to capture the mindshare of people with differentiated technology, innovative products and pioneering services. The current generation is high on confidence, prefers to lead their life much more comfortably and therefore have brought in valuable solutions to improve the life of others around them. The Indian startups are finding that their secret ingredient for success in life is indeed, Food. There are too many players today fighting to win the consumers hearts literally through their bellies. Food technology is the flavor of the season for Indian startups. But contrary to popular opinion, it is not about IT but innovation in the food experience provided to the consumer using real food technology. It is not about fancy smart phone technology and apps but about breakthrough food technological International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology http://www.irjmst.com Page 17 IRJMST Vol 9 Issue 3 [Year 2018] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) process used to create innovative food products and experiences to the consumer. After grocery, food delivery is emerging as the next big frontier for India’s largest e commerce companies. Indian food delivery market is valued at 15 billion dollars and set for an exponential growth. Food delivery has become a very competitive market in India. The growth of online food ordering a delivery platform by mobile apps has made business men awake and take notice. The. Some popular food hubs like swiggy,Food panda, grubhub and hungry house are feeding the world online and making profits. The piping hot Indian Food tech industry is slated to reach $78 billion by 2018 growing at 16% YoY. How ever the picture is not rosy as it appears. Despite the vast potential of this sector, many players that jumped into the food tech fray either downsized like zomato or completely shut down. Currently out of 105 Food tech startups in India, only 58 are currently operational. Initially the food tech industry in India began with companies like zomato trying to solve the problem of finding a good restaurant via a simple user friendly platform. The next stage saw companies like foodpanda trying to address the issue of ordering booking on these restaurants by working as an aggregator. The next stage had players like swiggy tackling the issue of delivery in the value chain. Essentially these sums up the evolution of the Indian food tech market till date. The irony is that none of the players have touched upon the top portion of the value chain which is FOOd itself. Also the fundamental reason behind the shutdown of so many Food Tech startups all the players are mere clones of one another completely lacking in any differentiation and innovation. Growth of online food delivery startups: Indian Tier-1 cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata have been witnessing traffic jams caused by an increase of late in the number of vehicles on roads and a heavy density of population. This has amplified the time to travel within a city, and created a paucity of time for working Indians in these metropolitan towns. As a result, more and more Indians have started ordering from online food delivery services, rather than cooking at home. The number of households eating at home every day witnessed a visible decline. This decline resulted in a large proportion of the household/consumer base ordering food in, thereby helping to drive the growth of 100% home delivery.” More than 80% of orders are now coming from the top five cities in India, out of more than 20 cities where online food delivery is active in this country. Due to this concentration of orders, food delivery players in India have limited their expansion to newer towns and are now are focusing on achieving operational efficiencies and profitability in Tier 1 cities only. To garner a bulk of the share in this nascent market, which has witnessed the entrance of new players from stables of global behemoths such as Google and Uber, Indian startups such as Swiggy and Zomato have taken steps including fundraising or making acquisitions in order to protect and gain their market share. International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology http://www.irjmst.com Page 18 IRJMST Vol 9 Issue 3 [Year 2018] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) Objective of the study: Present study focuses on studying innovative strategies of some of the promising as well as successful Indian food tech companies like Swiggy, Zomato and foodpanda, which are not just playing the business game but winning it as well. Swiggy: Swiggy is food ordering and delivering company, founded by techpreneurs Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety, and Rahul Jaimini in August 2014. It provides a single window for ordering from a wide range of restaurants and have their own exclusive fleet of delivery personnel pick up orders from restaurants and deliver it to customers. It is a complete food ordering and delivery solution that connects neighborhood restaurants with urban foodies. Swiggy began its Journey from Bengaluru with six delivery executives and 25 restaurants on its platform. The platform, which manages customer orders and delivers the food using its own fleet, has close to 12,000 partner restaurants in eight cities. On average Swiggy fulfills 100,000 orders every day and plans to utilize this capital for hiring engineering talent and developing technology for better demand prediction, consumer preferences and delivery efficiencies. A part of the raised capital will also be leveraged to increase the service offerings of Swiggy to restaurant partners. Earlier this year Swiggy had also started cloud kitchens, which are kitchen-only operations with no dine-in facility,as part of its offerings to restaurant partners looking to serve in areas where they do not have a physical presence. Swiggy Business model & Innovative Strategies Swiggy’s marketing strategy consists of both online and offline marketing campaigns.It promotes its campaigns via Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, and Instagram. Some of its campaigns include Second tomom,#DiwaliGhayAayi, #SingwithSwiggy and Know your food series of pictures and food walks in a local area. The company has successfully built its brand awareness and connects with its audience through these channels. Their facebook page is quite active with regular updates, averaging to one post a day. Swiggy uses its Social media not only for campaigning but to engage with its customers from solving the greviences to taking the feedback. it’s ideal target audience will be people between the age of 18-55.These people could be students, entrepreneurs or professionals working in MNC’s who are also financially stable and live in posh localities. But what sets Swiggy apart from Zomato & FoodPanda is their remarkable social media campaign strategies. Every campaign of theirs is extremely engaging, easy to consume and have an interactive quotient in them. The posts are highly appealing, humour based and of good quality. Influencer marketing is another one great strategy that Swiggy can look up to.Influencers & Influencer marketing is the newest trend these days. Brands have started approaching influencers to market their product because of their power to create an impact in the minds of people. Swiggy has two major revenue streams. The major part of Swiggy’s revenue from commission it collects from restaurants for lead generation and for serving as a delivery partner. Swiggy also International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology http://www.irjmst.com Page 19 IRJMST Vol 9 Issue 3 [Year 2018] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) charges a nominal delivery fee from customers on orders below a threshold value which is 200 rupees for most cities. Zomato Zomato initially named as Foodiebay was started in 2008 by Mr. Deepinder Goyal. It is a restaurant searching platform providing in-depth details with autonomous reviews and ratings.