Food delivery giants Swiggy and Zomato have increased their platform fees again. Now customers have to pay Rs 6 per order, up from the previous Rs 5, marking a 20 per cent hike, as per several media reports.
The hike will initially be applied in Bengaluru and Delhi. Platform fee was introduced by the two food delivery platforms last year. It was Rs 2 per order initially. Every order is subject to a platform fee, which is used to defray the cost of the platform's services.
This amount is not included in handling, restaurant, delivery, or GST costs. It is applicable to all meal orders, including ones placed by clients who are members of loyalty clubs or other programs. The intent of a platform fee is to help the company manage its costs and revenue.
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Food delivery platform Zomato delivers around 22–25 lakh orders daily. With the increase in platform fee of Rs 1, the food delivery platform will earn a significant amount, even though the Rs 1 might not look significant to its customers.
For certain customers, Swiggy has also tested Rs 10 as a platform fee for customers in Bengaluru, Delhi, and Hyderabad. Interestingly, while the users weren’t charged Rs 10 as a platform fee, they were shown the same during the checkout time. Eventually, they were charged Rs 5 with a discount, as reported by the Economic Times.
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Swiggy started charging customer fees in a push towards monetization in April 2023. The platform charged Rs. 2 per order. Following this, Zomato also started charging platform fees in August last year.
Speaking about the platform fee, Swiggy’s chief executive and co-founder, Sriharsha Majety, said in an email to its employees as per Moneycontrol, “The growth rate for food delivery has slowed down versus our projections (along with many peer companies globally)….While our cash reserves allow us to be fundamentally well positioned to weather harsh circumstances, we cannot make this a crutch and must continue identifying efficiencies to secure our long-term.”
As of now, both Swiggy and Zomato do not charge platform fees for their quick commerce platforms. However, Zepto became the first quick commerce platform to introduce platform fees in March of this year. It remains to be seen if other companies will follow suit.
