Food-delivery majors Swiggy and Zomato have once again introduced a platform fee hike. Customers now have to pay Rs 6 an order on both the apps, a 20 percent increase from Rs 5 earlier.
The fee, being charged in Bengaluru and Delhi to begin with, is different from delivery fee, goods and services tax, restaurant charges, handling charges and the like. The fee hike will be gradually rolled out across the country.
It will be charged on all food orders, even if the customer is enrolled under the various loyalty/membership programmes the two companies have. The fee directly goes to the company, which helps control costs and shore up revenues.
The increase of Re 1 on every order is not that heavy on the customer's pocket but for Zomato which delivers almost 22-25 lakh orders daily, it is an additional income of Rs 25 lakh each day. In all, food-delivery companies are looking at additional income of Rs 1.25-1.5 crore a day just by levying a platform fee.
Swiggy was first to begin charging a platform fee of Rs 2 in April 2023. Zomato followed suit in August. Since then, the two rivals have been pushing up the fee, as customers seem willing to pay with no negative impact on order volumes.
Swiggy and Zomato have not introduced the platform fee to their quick commerce businesses Instamart and Blinkit, respectively.
The competitor of both the platforms, Zepto became the first rapid delivery startup in March this year to introduce a platform fee.
Zepto delivers around 5.5 lakh orders daily and a platform fee of Rs 2 translates to a tidy additional income of Rs 11 lakh a day.
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