The deadly Covid19 has brought the world to a standstill. To combat the pandemic, India announced a lockdown period of 21 days. This resulted in various businesses closing down. Food delivery apps like Zomato, Swiggy started suffering losses in the initial days of the lockdown as people started holding back from ordering outside food.
Zomato and Swiggy started suffering losses even when the lockdown didn’t come into effect. Home-cooking found more preferences among people due to the myths regarding the transfer of the virus through various food items. There was a record drop in the number of orders during mid-march which was said to be about 70% lesser than the normal days. Top restaurants decided to shut down their services as raw materials scarcity became a major problem in several metropolitan cities. Also, a large number of the population feared to come in contact with others and decided to go by the social distancing norms strictly. One portion of the orders came from office-goers, but due to the work-from-home instructions they no longer needed food delivered. Not only this, but delivery boys were also found to be harassed by police. All of this created a major ruckus leading to people refraining from choosing online food delivery apps. This continued so much that the orders dropped to about one-third of their normal levels. “From 2.5 million deliveries a day, today we are at sub 1 million orders which we hope will increase in the upcoming days,” said a person associated with these businesses. . A chart revealed by a data analysis company shows that if 100 was the number representing total orders in normal days then it became 32 by mid-march.
Now, delivery apps like Zomato and swiggy have introduced contactless deliveries and grocery services to cope with ongoing situations. Restaurant workers have hand in their heads as the majority of their resources come through these apps.
Difficult times don’t last. The businesses will again flourish and life will go on smoothly with people cooperating. Don’t forget to greet our food delivery boys with a smile on your face because remember they are also risking their lives to get tasty food delivered to our doorsteps. Also, check out today’s google doodle thanking the delivery boys.
