The heavy rainfall wreaked havoc on online deliveries in urban centers, including Delhi and the National Capital Region. The region was hit by the worst deluge in decades over the weekend, leading to widespread flooding. This catastrophic event caused a major disruption for consumers who have come to rely on online deliveries for their daily essentials, such as food and medicine, not only in recent years but especially since the start of the pandemic.
Due to the overwhelming volume of water and the failure of the drainage system, the roads became flooded, reaching waist height and beyond. Numerous delivery services, including Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto, Blinkit, and Milk Basket, were unable to accept orders due to the inaccessibility of large clusters affected by the floods. Executives from e-commerce platforms, as well as grocery and restaurant companies, reported significant delays in their operations.
“Our operations have been affected due to rains in some parts of the country. We hope to be back soon,” food delivery platform Zomato, which also owns instant grocery delivery platform Blinkit, tweeted on Sunday, in response to multiple consumer complaints.
Over the past few days, northern India has been relentlessly pounded by the monsoon, resulting in tragic loss of life, destructive landslides, extensive property damage, and a significant number of people left homeless.
Restaurants Badly Hit
According to the India Meteorological Department, the confluence of two weather systems, namely monsoon winds and a western disturbance, has resulted in heavier rainfall than usual. Himachal Pradesh has been severely affected, with approximately 20 casualties reported, as per PTI.
According to a Zomato executive, services have been affected by the weather due to limitations in infrastructure and challenging road conditions.
“We are trying our best to be serviceable at this time,” this executive said. Restaurants were badly hit with few guests braving the rain in any case.
“Deliveries are more or less at a standstill in rain-impacted cities as logistics are severely hampered,” said Anjan Chatterjee, Chairman of Speciality Restaurants, which operates Mainland China and Oh! Calcutta. “Dine-ins are anyway affected because people are unable to move out of their homes. We hope this is a short-term phenomenon and the situation will be normal soon.”
In addition to deliveries, executives expressed that operations and supplies suffered as a result of insufficient support from public infrastructure.
“Deliveries getting insanely delayed in impacted cities; kitchen operations and supplies are being hampered as well,” said Nitin Saluja, Co-Founder of tea-cafe chain Chaayos. “Consumers are ordering more, but it’s the deliveries which are being unable to operate efficiently.”
Consumers in various regions of the country expressed their frustration on Twitter regarding the unavailability of essential deliveries during a period when leaving their homes was not feasible. The implementation of work-from-home and online schooling in cities like Gurgaon on Sunday exacerbated the strain on online delivery services.
Responding to aggrieved consumers on delays and rain surcharges over the past few days, Swiggy posted multiple texts on its social media handle, “We levy the rain fee to get more delivery executives on the streets during rains… Delays are due to rains,” and so on.
According to companies that specialize in selling daily essentials and grocery products, the recent disruptions caused by rain-infrastructure have occurred just as quick commerce platforms like Swiggy’s Instamart, Zomato’s Blinkit, Zepto, and BigBasket’s BBnow are experiencing faster growth compared to traditional e-commerce platforms.
“Even though we are seeing the number of consumer orders have increased, as many are working from home and people generally cannot step out, it’s the deliveries that are being disrupted in rain-impacted markets,” said Mayank Shah, Senior Category Head at cookies and confectionery products maker Parle Products.
Ecommerce platforms have stated that they have provided riders with essential supplies such as raincoats, as well as emergency and medical assistance.
“During monsoons and any other extreme weather conditions, our primary focus is on safety,” said Vikas Sharma, Chief Operating Officer at quick commerce platform Zepto. “While the timelines may be slightly affected given the traffic congestion and waterlogging, our proprietary tech system helps minimise the impact by blocking the affected routes and providing riders with safer alternative routes.”
According to industry executives, the ecommerce grocery market in India is currently valued at INR 3,000 crore and is experiencing significant growth. Swiggy Instamart, a prominent player in the market, is estimated to handle approximately 450,000 daily orders, while Zepto manages around 300,000 daily orders. In a recent update, Zomato announced that Blinkit, their subsidiary, successfully delivered 31.6 million orders in the quarter ending December 2022.
According to the India Meteorological Department’s forecast, there will be substantial rainfall throughout the week due to the influence of western disturbances and strong winds.
All schools in Punjab have been instructed to remain closed until July 13, while the Chandigarh administration has recommended that both public and private offices contemplate temporary closures.