Food delivery platforms see surge in festive orders despite fee hike and GST

Despite the fee hike on delivery platforms and the government’s new GST levy on delivery services, online food ordering has surged during the festive season.

Food delivery platforms are seeing one of their strongest festive sales in recent years, driven by social gatherings and the overall spirit of the season.

Data from food delivery platforms Swiggy and magicpin shows a spike in food orders across the country during Navratri.

magicpin has seen a sharp surge in festive demand, with vegetarian and thali orders rising nearly 40% during Navratri across cities, compared to business-as-usual days.

Between September 22 and 30, Swiggy recorded over 99,000 orders for sabudana khichdi, 1.03 lakh for vrat thali, and 70,000 for sabudana vada across the country. (Vrat thali is the platter of food consumed during the fasting period.)

Durga Puja celebrations drove order volumes in Kolkata. Swiggy reported a 11.26% rise during Ashtami—day 8 of Navratri, a significant period during the festivities—over the same period last year.

For magicpin, sweet and snack orders doubled week-on-week during Dussehra, as festive gifting and office celebrations kicked in. This was led by Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.

Post Dussehra, magicpin saw bulk and party food orders jumping 2.5 times over usual days, as consumers planned get-togethers ahead of Diwali. Housing societies, offices, and family gatherings have become key drivers of festive season consumption.

​magicpin expects to double last year's numbers on food delivery. With the festive season peaking through Diwali and beyond, the company sees food delivery volumes surpassing last year’s record highs, Anshoo Sharma, CEO & Co-founder, magicpin, told YourStory.

The surge in orders comes as consumers turn to food delivery platforms for party celebrations and daily meals as well, despite the hike in platform fee and other charges.

Swiggy and Eternal (formerly Zomato), which together account for a majority share of the food delivery market, recently increased platform fee to Rs 15 and Rs 12, respectively, across key metros.

Magicpin has also revised its fee to Rs 10. Swiggy had earlier tested a platform fee of Rs 14 on Independence Day before settling at Rs 12. Zomato, which had raised its fee to Rs 10 during the festive season last year, has now increased it further to Rs 12.

Delivery platforms also levy a surge fee during times of high demand or bad weather to balance supply and demand and compensate for driver difficulties.

Consumer's wallets have also been hit by the government’s new 18% goods and services tax on delivery services.

In spite of all this, food delivery platforms expect order volumes to continue rising during the upcoming festivities, including Diwali and the year-end holiday season.