Swiggy shuts down online grocery service Handpicked

Swiggy has closed down Handpicked, its premium grocery delivery service, just six months after rolling out a pilot for users in Bengaluru. Handpicked was introduced in December last year to provide gourmet local food products such as ready-to-cook meats, spreads, and region-specific food. It also offered international products like Coca-Cola's Cherry Cola. The service was rolled out in pilot mode to select users in Bengaluru.   

Users can continue to access Instamart and InsanelyGood. Swiggy launched ecommerce service Maxx recently with the promise of delivery orders within an hour. The move signals Swiggy's step towards creating a shopping ecosystem, right from food and grocery delivery to ecommerce. Food delivery and Instamart, however, will remain the core businesses. 

In an attempt to optimise its costs, Swiggy has started charging a platform fee of Rs 2 per order. The 'platform fee' is applicable to all orders, irrespective of the cart's value. The food delivery major initially rolled out the additional charge for users in a few metro cities, including Bengaluru and Hyderabad. However, it hasn't introduced any additional charges for its quick-commerce arm, Instamart. 

Swiggy has yet to introduce the additional charge in major cities like Delhi and Mumbai. The platform delivers over 1.5 million orders each day; hence, the additional charge of Rs 2 would create a decent corpus to re-infuse back into its operations.