Startups fight COVID-19: Swiggy to prioritise Genie deliveries amid second wave
With Genie, consumers can get anything delivered. Now with a focus on Genie the team is focussing on delivery of over the counter (OTC) medicines, oximeters, and thermometers to home cooked meals, care packages and grocery.
Bengaluru-based foodtech platform Swiggy has announced that it will be prioritising deliveries through its hyperlocal delivery vertical, Genie. Started in 2019, Genie is Swiggy’s pick up and drop service.
With the second wave of Covid-19 severely impacting India, Swiggy stated it will be focussing on ferrying a range of necessities. More importantly, it has been focussed on delivering over the counter (OTC) medicines, oximeters, and thermometers to home-cooked meals, care packages, and grocery. While the other food and Instamart deliveries will not be delayed, this just means that the Genie orders will be assigned first.
All Genie orders will have dedicated customer care support. The team also added the prioritisation of Swiggy Genie orders will be of immense help for those recovering at home or taking care of someone with medical necessities, grocery needs or home cooked meals. Swiggy is also directly working with hundreds of Covid Heroes who are providing meals to affected families and will prioritise these deliveries as well.
The company stated it has witnessed a 350 percent increase in the delivery of OTC medicines through Swiggy Genie in the last 15 days, compared to the same period last month. It also said almost half a million home-cooked meals and tiffins have been ferried to friends and family in the same period. Covid Heroes, who are selflessly cooking meals to help those in need have been using the service to help those in need.
Announcing the move, Vivek Sunder, COO at Swiggy said, “We are overwhelmed with messages from consumers expressing how Swiggy Genie has been a lifeline in these tough times. With several cities under lockdown, and family or friends to take care of, Swiggy Genie has delivered necessities like home-cooked meals, OTC medicines, test reports and grocery to the doorsteps of Indians."
"Considering the criticality of the service, we are now prioritising Genie deliveries. We urge users to stay indoors and we will do our best to get them whatever they need while also keeping the safety of our partners top of mind.”
Swiggy Genie is present in 65 cities across the country.
Edited by Anju Narayanan
