To provide consumers with affordable meal options, listed foodtech giant Swiggy has launched a new food delivery app called “Toing”. The app delivers meals for less than INR 250 and is presently available in a few Pune locales. According to the Google Play Store app description, Swiggy’s “Toing” service offers you dependable delivery throughout your city, honest pricing, and reasonably priced meals.
Since its August 30 release in the app marketplace, the app has received over 500 downloads, according to the company. The development was initially reported by Moneycontrol. Over the past few months, the company has increased its efforts to provide affordable meals.
The Swiggy app’s “99 Store” feature was introduced in July, providing fast food alternatives priced between INR 49 and INR 149. In order to satisfy the demands of cost-conscious consumers and offer reasonably priced solutions to the frequent Gen-Z buyer, the feature was introduced.
Swiggy’s New Business Strategy to Attract More Customers
The company has been aggressively raising its platform fees for food delivery at the same time as it is focusing on offering cheaper meal deliveries. It raised its platform costs to INR 15 for each order in September. Earlier in July and August, the business had implemented comparable pricing increases.
Following the recent modifications to the GST scheme, food delivery costs are anticipated to increase. Delivery rates for food and fast commerce (local) deliveries will henceforth be subject to an 18% tax. For Zomato, where delivery costs typically range from INR 11 to 12, the adjustment will add roughly INR 2 to every order. Given that Swiggy’s delivery fees average INR 14.5, the company may experience a bigger impact of INR 2.6 per order.
Swiggy’s Expansion Beyond Food Delivery
Swiggy is now launching a lot of new products, and they’re not just food delivery services. In June, the foodtech major introduced a concierge service for travel and lifestyle via a brand-new app named “Crew.” Crew is a customised concierge app made to help customers with a variety of routine and unique chores.
Pyng, Swiggy’s professional services marketplace app, was also released earlier this year. Swiggy Genie, the company’s delivery service, has been paused while it aggressively tests out new offerings. Swiggy released its financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2025–2026 (Q1 FY26) last week. As it kept making investments to grow its rapid commerce activities, the company’s deficit increased in the first quarter. In the June quarter, the company’s net loss increased by 96% to INR 1,197 Cr from INR 611 Cr in the same period last year.
Quick
Shots
•Currently available in select Pune locations; over
500 downloads since Aug 30 launch.
•Promises honest pricing, dependable delivery, and
budget-friendly meals.
•Follows launch of Swiggy’s “99 Store” (meals priced
INR 49–INR 149) to attract cost-conscious users.
•Q1 FY26 results: net loss widened 96% YoY to INR
1,197 Cr as company invests in quick commerce.
Several brokerages stated in separate notes that Rapido‘s entry into the food delivery market through a pilot in Bengaluru is unlikely to significantly upend the established duopoly of Zomato and Swiggy due to the business’s intrinsic operational complexity, capital intensity, and customer experience issues.
Bengaluru-based Rapido is getting ready to start its meal delivery service with a radically different price structure, opting for flat costs rather than the customary % commissions given to restaurants, according to a media report.
At a time when small restaurant operators are becoming more outspoken about growing aggregator expenses, the move put the ride-hailing company in a position to compete with Zomato and Swiggy.
For food orders under INR 400, Rapido will impose a set INR 25 fee; for orders beyond INR 400, the fee will be INR 50. The restaurant pays Rapido these fixed fees, which are subtracted from the order amount.
Rahul Malhotra of Bernstein, a premier global equity research and brokerage firm, pointed out that although Rapido intends to use its user base of more than 3 million to charge reduced take rates, new competitors have failed in the past. Malhotra pointed to earlier attempts by Ola, ONDC, and Amazon that didn’t scale because of a poor user experience, a fragmented supply, and a small range of restaurants.
Fragmented Food Delivery Market of India
With only about 10% of gross order value (GOV) coming from organised quick-service restaurants and the remainder from smaller eateries, India’s food delivery sector is fragmented, making it more difficult for entrants to reach scale.
Zomato and Swiggy, according to Bernstein, have already spent $2–3 billion developing their meal delivery networks and enjoy a large following of loyal customers. Swiggy had 252,000 active restaurant partners, while Zomato had over 314,000 as of Q4 Q4FY25. According to internal estimations, Bernstein estimated that Zomato and Swiggy held a 54% and 46% share of the meal delivery market, respectively.
Swiggy Leading the Race
Swiggy has been gaining market share in recent quarters. In Q4 Q4FY25, its food delivery GMV grew 18% year over year, surpassing Zomato’s 16% growth. The analysts said, “We do not anticipate material market share impact from Rapido’s entry,” noting that the service would initially be in a trial phase and would only be available in Bengaluru.
Bernstein stated that although Rapido might be able to attract previously unexplored eateries to its platform, especially those with low average order values (AOVs) in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, this will increase the market as a whole rather than reduce the number of customers that the incumbents have.
In a similar vein, HSBC referred to the current state of affairs as “déjà vu” for the food delivery sector, which had comparable anxieties during ONDC’s ascent in 2023.
Swiggy started as a simple service that was just delivering food and has now evolved into a platform that delivers not only food but groceries, essentials, and everything else with a few taps on your phone. Even amidst stiff competition with its largest rival, Zomato, Swiggy has climbed to the top with a staggering 76.35% of the food delivery market in its pocket. But how did it get there? The secret is in its marketing strategy—a mix of innovation, customer focus, and adaptability.
Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety, and Rahul Jaimini’s brainchild, Swiggy, has overcome their initial challenges to emerge as a household name in India’s on-demand meal delivery market. Despite facing setbacks with their previous venture, an e-commerce platform for small businesses, the founders recognised the potential of the hyperlocal market, which led to the creation of Swiggy in 2014.
The early focus of the company on building a strong logistical network and forging valuable partnerships helped the company begin with just six delivery boys and 25 restaurant partners, overcoming the initial hurdle of getting eateries to adopt the service.
Swiggy quickly adapted to the growing demand for on-demand food delivery, and by 2015, it expanded its operations and raised funds of $80 million to fuel its growth. Swiggy’s investment allowed them to expand their reach and operations and connect with over 200,000 partner restaurants in 500 cities across India. In 2024, Swiggy was valued at $11.5 billion and was one of India’s leading meal delivery services.
Though this is Swiggy’s primary audience, the demographic it targets stretches much further. The platform is for people aged from 18 to over 55 years old, without restrictions on profession, demographic area, or interest. Swiggy delivers to anyone who doesn’t want to cook or is unable to, from college students who can’t cook on their own to families who want to avoid cooking on busy days.
Swiggy’s ecosystem is not just about its customer base but also aims at restaurants as key partners. Swiggy’s network consists of these eateries, from small local joints to large chains. Through becoming delivery partners, restaurants use Swiggy’s large audience, while Swiggy makes sure that its customers receive a seamless delivery experience.
With its innovative services, customer-centric approach, and great user experience, Swiggy has transformed India’s food delivery market. In creating a well-rounded marketing mix, Swiggy has not only satisfied the changing needs of consumers but also set standards of excellence for the competitive food tech industry.
Product
At Swiggy’s core, online food ordering and delivery bring customers to their favourite restaurants. Swiggy’s innovation doesn’t stop here. Instamart, which is a grocery delivery service with lightning-fast delivery times, has only further solidified its place as a market leader.
Swiggy Go is an express delivery service for non-food items, and Swiggy Stores is a one-stop shop for daily essentials for customers with diverse needs. The company also gives Swiggy Money as a digital wallet for easy transactions. Swiggy Super (now rebranded as Swiggy One) goes a step further by dedicating its subscription service to elevating customer loyalty to new heights by providing free deliveries, exclusive discounts, and faster service, amongst other perks.
With Swiggy Fresh, Swiggy is focused on fresh produce, and Swiggy Access Kitchens help restaurant partners gain access to rent-free, fully equipped kitchens in underserved areas. The Swiggy Ads platform allows for precise targeting of audiences for businesses, which proves to be a win-win for all stakeholders.
Price
Dynamic pricing strategies help Swiggy strike the perfect balance between affordability and value. Factors such as demand, competition, and delivery distance affect the platform’s pricing, providing customers with the best value. Customers are kept engaged with a lot of frequent discounts, cashback incentives, and exclusive deals that can be availed of by using specific payment methods.
Place
Accessibility and convenience are what their place strategy revolves around. Established across India, Swiggy’s operation spans more than 500 Indian cities, and it has more than 150,000 restaurants as part of its partnerships. Customers can order, track, and pay with their user-friendly app and website.
Hot and fresh deliveries to doorsteps and pick-up options from restaurants are guaranteed by Swiggy’s delivery partners’ fleet. Swiggy is not just diversifying into new markets by delivering groceries, medicines, flowers, and gifts, but also expanding its footprint in the Indian delivery ecosystem beyond food.
Promotion
The promotional strategies of Swiggy focus on making the brand more relatable by executing creative and relatable campaigns. It stands out in terms of its social media presence, with platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, which are full of funny and engaging content. #SuperSwiggy and #SwiggyIndia are campaigns that have catchy one-liners and puns that can be related to audiences.
India’s leading food delivery service, Swiggy, has set a path with a marketing blueprint that is both innovative and effective in reaching out to a huge audience. Swiggy has been able to lead the market by leveraging digital platforms and engaging with customers across multiple touchpoints, and has garnered a lot of traffic from various sources. Swiggy’s go-to-market strategy focused on launching in major metro cities with a strong hyperlocal delivery model. It quickly built a reliable fleet for last-mile logistics and partnered with popular restaurants to attract users. Below are the marketing strategy of Swiggy employed by the leading food aggregator in India:
Swiggy SEO Strategy
On-page and off-page SEO is what Swiggy focuses on to improve the visibility of its website on search engines. SEO-friendly elements like H1 and H2 tags like “Hungry?” (H1) and “Order food from your favourite restaurants near you” (H2) make the website SEO-friendly so Google can understand what’s on the page.
Keyword research, interlinking, titles, and alt tags are used well by Swiggy to improve its search ranking. Though the backlinking is not very good, Swiggy still ranks well in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and is very visible.
Swiggy Social Media Marketing Strategy
Swiggy Social Media
Social media has been masterfully leveraged by Swiggy to connect with its millennial audience on platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. Its Instagram account has over 300K followers and is a mix of witty, topical, and relatable posts that are often designed to entertain as much as they promote food delivery.
Their post about the mysterious monoliths that popped up worldwide in December 2020 is a prime example. But Swiggy used the trend to its advantage and linked it to a sweet Indian dessert to get over 9,000 likes.
Apart from being quick on trends, Swiggy is also known for campaigns that promote user interaction. Their most successful campaign was the #SwiggyVoiceOfHunger challenge, where people using Instagram’s voice note feature stood a chance to win food vouchers for the year.
As a result of this campaign, they saw a 40% increase in followers and a 2,100% increase in traffic. To keep its brand relatable and memorable, Swiggy encourages user-generated content and works with fun, shareable content.
Paid Search Engine Marketing Strategy
Paid search engine marketing is a huge investment for Swiggy to drive traffic to their site and increase their visibility. The keyword ‘Swiggy’ is searched 1.83 million times per month, and Swiggy pays more per click ($0.20) than its rival Zomato ($0.11), according to SEMrush.
So despite the cost, Swiggy’s paid Google ads are working, pulling in a ton of traffic to its platform. The Swiggy website has 4.3 million unique visitors, and paid search ads account for around 3.95% of the traffic, an increase of 9% over the previous year. With this SEM strategy, Swiggy always stays in front of users actively searching for food delivery options.
Email Marketing
Another strong pillar of its digital marketing is Swiggy’s email marketing. Swiggy achieved a CTR of 7% and an open rate of 25% in 2019, which are both very high compared to the average industry rate. In order to improve the effectiveness of its emails, Swiggy teamed up with Netcore Cloud, using AI to power marketing automation.
By working together, Swiggy was able to send emails directly to the primary inboxes of Gmail users, so their promotions and offers didn’t end up in spam folders. In addition to crafting compelling subject lines, concise titles, and strong CTAs to entice recipients to engage with the content, the brand also frequently includes coupons or exclusive deals.
Meme Marketing
With meme marketing, Swiggy has redefined the digital marketing landscape and proved how humour and timely cultural references can help in building impactful brand engagement. In a time when brands are competing to get noticed, Swiggy has managed a unique and effective way to stand out, staying on top of trending topics and making relevant memes for their audience.
Staying relevant and adding its twist to real-time events is one of the key strategies that sets Swiggy apart, and often it’s done through clever memes. One such example is how Swiggy reacted to the farmers’ protest in India. Rather than avoiding difficult or delicate topics, Swiggy leaped in with a well-thought-out and humorous response that is exactly the type of thing you want from a company that can comment intelligently during tense times.
Swiggy’s meme marketing is simple and relevant, and that’s its power. The way it speaks is very much directed at younger audiences, in particular millennials and Gen Z, who are willing to accept authenticity and wit. Swiggy knows that memes are a part of everyday communication and has used them to fuel its social media presence.
TV Advertising
Swiggy’s “Why Is This A Swiggy Ad?” shows the brand’s capacity to enthrall audiences with creativity and innovation through a campaign. The campaign, launched in October, disrupted traditional TV ad formats by using an intriguing question that immediately caught attention: “Why Is This A Swiggy Ad?” It wasn’t just an advertisement; it was a puzzle, a conversation starter, and a channel to involve the audience through user-generated content (UGC).
A strong TV presence backed the campaign, with ads running in prime time slots, many of them featuring mysterious images and questions that would intrigue. The use of social media and print brought viewers to a dedicated website, ‘whyisthisaswiggyad.com’, where they could go even deeper into the mystery and share their theories. Swiggy’s TV ads were carefully placed on relevant shows that were popular with their target demographic, young, urban audiences.
In-App Advertising
With in-app advertising, restaurants find that they can get more visibility. For instance, users might see sponsored restaurant listings up front on the app’s search results, which will then give featured restaurants more visibility.
The ‘Swiggy Pop program’ is a noteworthy feature that displays one item meal at an affordable price in the most prominent section of the app, thus increasing the click-through rates. Restaurants can use these promotions to drive conversions by targeting users based on their preferences and behaviour.
Swiggy Marketing Campaigns
WhatsInAName Campaign
#WhatsInAName Campaign
The #WhatsInAName campaign by Swiggy was a heartwarming success as it encouraged people to remember their delivery partners by their names. By showcasing the personal stories of delivery partners and the need to acknowledge their uniqueness, the campaign resonated with millions of Indians and helped foster respect and empathy.
Voice of Hunger
The creative campaign utilised Instagram’s audio note feature in a fun way. Users were challenged to create sound waveforms in the shape of different food items and send them to the brand via direct message on Swiggy. The brand rewarded participants who completed the challenge with a year’s worth of food vouchers. The campaign was a huge success, and Swiggy got more than 10,000 entries per day.
Swiggy “Karo Phir Jo Chahe Karo”
“Karo Phir Jo Chahe Karo” Campaign
This witty campaign was launched during IPL 2018, and the storyline was simple yet relatable. A man orders just one piece of gulab jamun in a 20-second ad and eats it secretly from his wife. Swiggy’s ad promised to deliver even the smallest orders with convenience, without any complex dialogues. The minimalistic, but charming, approach hit a chord with audiences.
Why Is This A Swiggy Ad?
Why Is This A Swiggy Ad?
“Why Is This A Swiggy Ad?” was a genius user-led campaign that flipped traditional advertising on its head. What started as one mysterious image sparked massive curiosity, making Gen Z and millennials stop scrolling and start talking. Swiggy launched it across billboards, newspapers, and social media—drawing nearly 800,000 responses, wild theories, livestreams, and debates.
It was Swiggy’s marketing strategy that has been the force behind its success in the food delivery space in India. Swiggy has successfully managed to provide for the changing needs of its customers by combining innovation, customer focus, and adaptability.
FAQs
What is Swiggy’s marketing strategy?
The key marketing strategies of Swiggy include SEO strategy, social media strategy, Paid Search Engine Marketing Strategy, Email Marketing, Meme Marketing, and TV Advertising, In-App Advertising.
What made Swiggy successful?
Swiggy is committed towards its delivery partners, and for any delivery business, the most important part of their ventures is the delivery partners. The importance of fair rights towards delivery partners, when combined with other factors such as innovation and a customer-centric approach, play a huge role in the success of Swiggy.
What is the aim of Swiggy?
Swiggy aims to elevate the quality of life of urban consumers by providing them with convenience, which can be experienced with just a click.
The food delivery industry has reached a saturation point in terms of the number of cities; thus, foodtech giant Swiggy is concentrating on strengthening its position in the current locations rather than expanding geographically. Following the release of its financial results for the second quarter of FY25, the company emphasised during its earnings call that there is no longer any business case for growing into an additional 50–100 cities. According to the corporation, there isn’t a strong commercial rationale for expanding to another 50 or 100 locations; therefore, doing so would primarily be a selfish exercise.
Swiggy is instead focusing on expansion in high-potential metropolitan areas with growing migrant populations and developing communities, such as the new Bengaluru and Delhi NCR neighbourhoods. Cities like Bengaluru and the National Capital Region are no longer confined to their central regions. According to Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety, the company’s expansion into neighbouring zones—which Swiggy refers to as Tier 1.5 locations—is growing more and more important as new customers in these areas look for affordability.
Changing Business Strategies
Affordability is still a major factor, the CEO continued, particularly for markets like regular corporate lunches, where maximising delivery speed by distance is essential. Core city rents are also rising. In the meantime, Swiggy is trying to satisfy the increasing demand from customers for more options for its rapid commerce vertical, Instamart. It is still difficult to strike a balance between this and delivery speed, though. Although consumers anticipate a wide selection of goods, Swiggy claims that its current business strategy can supply up to 20,000 SKUs in 10 minutes. According to Majety, the corporation would have to make a minor compromise by lengthening the delivery time if it wanted to increase the assortment beyond this range.
Adding New Dark Stores for Business Expansion
Rahul Bothra, the CFO of Swiggy, told a media outlet last month that the company’s new dark stores would essentially occupy an area that is two to three times larger than its existing dark stores. In addition to expanding the company’s SKU coverage, adding dark stores will provide a variety of delivery options; for example, Swiggy Instamart can deliver some items in 10 minutes and others in 20 minutes, Bothra stated. On December 4, Swiggy announced that its operating revenue had increased by 30% to INR 3,601.45 Cr, while its consolidated net loss had decreased by 4.78% year over year to INR 625.53 Cr. In the quarter ending in September 2024, Swiggy Instamart’s operating revenue increased 135.7% to INR 490 Cr from INR 208 Cr in the same time the previous year.
