Quick-commerce companies, along with food delivery companies and other consumer internet startups, clocked their highest ever orders on new years eve. From Blinkit to Zepto and Swiggy Instamart, the CEOs of all startups took to X (formerly Twitter) to share stats and order volumes which were on a record high, especially when compared to the same period last year.
“It's just 5:15 p.m and we've already crossed the total number of orders we did on new year’s eve (NYE) 2022!” Albinder Dhindsa, CEO, Blinkit said on X on December 31.
Also Read | Deepinder Goyal shares pic of 'war room' as Zomato gears up for New Year's orders
“We've already hit the highest orders per minute (OPM),” Dhindsa added.
Record orders
A user from Lucknow, who placed an order worth Rs 33,683 on Blinkit, was the highest spender on Blinkit till early evening on December 31, Dhindsa said. The record was however then beaten by a user in Bengaluru and then by a user in Mumbai on the same day.
There is typically a surge in orders during festivals, sporting events and other occasions when people gather.
The trend was similar across all others platforms. “India is partying like never before to ring in 2024,” Rohit Kapoor, CEO, Swiggy Food marketplace said on X while speaking about a 10X increase in searches for tonic water, cocktail mixers and glasses.
A user from Kolkata placed an order worth Rs 48,950. The order consisted of 35 products, or 914 items, and was placed on December 31 on Swiggy instamart, Kapoor added.
Even Zepto, India’s first unicorn of 2023, said it saw an uptick in business. “We had the privilege of serving 2.1 million more customers on our platform compared to the same time last year. 1.88 million monthly transacting users (MTUs) in Dec 2022 versus 4.04 million MTUs in Dec 2023," Aadit Palicha, co-founder and CEO of Zepto said.
The story was not very different for food delivery companies like Zomato and Swiggy. “Hit our all-time high orders in a day on Zomato,” Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO, Zomato, said on X.
“We’ve delivered almost as many orders on new year’s eve (NYE) 2023 as we did on NYE 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 combined. Excited about the future!” he said. Zomato also owns Blinkit. Goyal said 8,422 orders were placed at 8:06 pm , or about 140 orders every second.
Goyal added that there were over 3.2 lakh delivery partners on ground and that customers had tipped all delivery agents a total of Rs 97 lakh in total on December 31.
Rival Swiggy also saw a similar surge in orders. “Swiggy fields record-high orders every New Year's Eve for food and Swiggy instamart, and this year is no different. We've witnessed an early increase in demand, especially on large orders as users stock up on food and party essentials like chips, cool drinks, juices, and more. In preparation for the day, we've been working with restaurant partners to extend serviceability, stocking up at Swiggy instamart pods, and ensuring our delivery fleet is at full strength. We’ve also seen a remarkable surge in the number of year-end party bookings on Dineout. Dineout is also being used for reservations this year,” a Swiggy spokesperson said.
Swiggy had acquired Dineout in 2022 to compete with Zomato.
“By evening, both food and Swiggy instamart surpassed last year’s highs and we’ll continue to deliver seamlessly to make it a memorable celebration for everyone.”
Other cloud kitchen players, who typically sell on Swiggy, Zomato and other platforms, said their individual businesses were on a high, too.
“Today will be the first instance of us servicing 1,00,000 orders on a single day! Thanks for all the customer love,” Ankit Nagori, founder and CEO, Curefoods said on X.
Other consumer internet companies like Oyo, the travel tech startup, said that both, domestic and international bookings had surged. “6,20,000 bookings for new year's eve NYE in 2023!” Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO of Oyo said on X.
“We are up by 37 percent from last year as last minute bookings rise,” he added as cities like Ayodha, Goa, Nainital and others saw a massive uptick.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
