No more discounts on Swiggy, Zomato! What is the future of Online Food Ordering?

After Offline Restaurant industry Complained to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) that food aggregators are engaging in “deep discounting” and “predatory pricing”.Officials (DPIIT) met representatives from online food delivery firms like Zomato and Swiggy and offline industry leaders and directed them to sit and solve their differences and boost equitable growth in the industry.Indian food delivery market is projected to reach $12.5 bn by 2023 with an annual growth rate of 12.8%.   

• What's the story?   

Swiggy, Zomato, Uber Eats and all the other food ordering platforms are spending millions of dollars on discounts to retain old and acquire new customers.This is something offline restaurants are considering as a reason for their revenue loss.Another complaint from the restaurants is that food aggregators have launched their own private labels that, restaurants allege, is eating into offline players’ business. Restaurants have also complained that consumer preference data available to food aggregators is being used by the latter to shape their private label menus.

After DPIIT officials have directed both the parties to sit and solve the differences, it is highly likely that Swiggy, Zomato may now put their discounting for a review.With increasing losses in millions of dollars they are already working hard to bring down their operational costs.According to a source, approximately Zomato ends up losing Rs. 25 on each order .   

• What's next ?

After recent developments and keeping an eye for the profitability it is highly likely that Swiggy,Zomato may soon consider to cut their discounts short.In a survey while 95% Indians admitted that they order food due to the offers and discounts, do you think Indians will stop ordering online?Let us know your views in the comments.