Swiggy Instamart looks to strengthen pharmacy play 10-minute medicine deliveries

The foray comes at a time when quick commerce companies are entering new sectors to push up average order values (AOVs) and improve their profitability.

IPO-bound food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy has partnered with PharmEasy to expand assortment and offer medicine deliveries in 10 minutes. Since the Bengaluru-based firm is partnering with the e-pharmacy company it does not require additional regulatory permissions for this foray.

To be sure, Swiggy was already delivering basic over the counter (OTC) medicines such as pain relief sprays and others through Instamart, the company’s quick commerce arm. With the latest partnership, Swiggy will go deeper in the e-pharmacy category to tap into a new set of users.

Swiggy is initially piloting this offering in Bengaluru where it will deliver medicines like pain relievers, fever medicines as well as medicines that require a valid prescription. “The prescription can either be uploaded by the customer or generated by a doctor during a consultation on Pharmeasy,” a person in the know said.

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The foray comes at a time when quick commerce companies are entering new sectors to push up average order values (AOVs) and improve their profitability. Swiggy Instamart did not respond to Moneycontrol's request for comments.

Food-tech giant Swiggy saw its losses widen 8 percent to Rs 611 crore in Q1FY25 from Rs 564 crore a year ago on mounting expenses, the company’s updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) showed.

The company spent Rs 3,908 crore in the three months, up 27 percent from Rs 3,073 crore spent during the same period in the previous fiscal.

Swiggy’s revenue from operations stood at Rs 3,222.2 crore in the April-June period of the current fiscal year, an increase of 35 percent from Rs 2,389.8 crore recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.

In comparison, its listed rival Zomato had a revenue of Rs 4,206 crore (74 percent growth year-on-year) and generated a profit of Rs 253 crore in Q1FY25.

On a full year basis, Swiggy’s revenue grew 36 percent to Rs 11,247 crore in FY24 from Rs 8,265 crore. Its losses were down 44 percent to Rs 2,350 crore from Rs 4,179 crore in this period helped by a stronger control on expenses, as reported earlier by Moneycontrol.