Flipkart has begun piloting its food delivery platform, Eat In, among employees in Bengaluru, according to a Moneycontrol report citing sources. It is likely to extend the service to its entire employee base in Bengaluru around September 15.
The platform could subsequently be opened to customers in the city.
What is Eat In?
Eat In is an upcoming food-delivery service by Flipkart that aims to compete with established platforms like Zomato and Swiggy.
is developing Eat In in partnership with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), while also exploring a lower-commission model aimed at making the platform more attractive to restaurants.
Eat In will initially be integrated into the company’s main app.
As per sources quoted in the report, the e-commerce platform could introduce a standalone app for the service later, depending on how the business grows. The company is also expected to take Eat In beyond Bengaluru and expand into other cities as it scales up its food delivery operations.
“If it’s part of the Flipkart app… people will go in with the expectation that most of the catalogue available in the market should be on the app. We will, over time, make an effort to cover the entire catalogue,” Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy earlier stated in an interview with Moneycontrol.
Eat In benefits
Flipkart’s decision to enter food delivery follows comments made by Krishnamurthy in July, when he said the company planned to conduct a small-scale trial before considering a broader expansion. He said the platform would focus on giving customers more than just competitive pricing, with factors such as choice, service quality, reliability and the overall user experience also being key.
“We will launch food delivery in the next few weeks. Like everything else we do, we will launch food delivery first, test the value proposition with customers, take feedback and continue improving the product until it really appeals to the customer. After that, we’ll start scaling it,” Krishnamurthy said.
Food delivery heats up with new budget-focused players
Flipkart is entering the food-delivery space at a time when established players and newer entrants are stepping up efforts to win over consumers looking for affordable meals. Rapido, Swiggy and Zomato are each pursuing different strategies to increase their reach and compete on pricing.
Rapido’s zero-commission food delivery platform, Ownly, has recently surpassed 50,000 orders a day in . That accounts for about 10% of the city’s estimated 500,000-600,000 daily food-delivery orders.
, meanwhile, is targeting cost-conscious users through Toing, a standalone app focused on lower-priced food options. The platform has reportedly seen strong adoption since its launch. Brokerage CLSA recently estimated Toing’s weekly active users at nearly 33 million, compared with around 35 million for Zomato.
Eternal, the parent company of Zomato, has taken a different approach by retaining its budget offerings within the main Zomato platform rather than launching a separate low-cost app, the report noted. The company is also investing in Bistro, a food-delivery business based on a distinct operating model aimed at offering meals at lower prices.