Swiggy Genie services have been impacted across Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. Hence, it has temporarily shut down its pick-up and drop-off service Genie across major metros, as the company struggles to hire a delivery workforce and keep up with the demand. We are temporarily unavailable due to operational stress in your city. We will be back soon. “
People familiar with the matter said the service has been unavailable for the past seven days. “Swiggy Genie is temporarily unavailable in 3 out of 68 cities.” The company is prioritizing food-delivery and its quick commerce business, Instamart, “the person cited above said on the condition of anonymity.
Many food and grocery delivery companies have been unable to increase pay-outs to their riders amid spiralling fuel prices and overall inflation in the economy. This has resulted in supply-side issues cropping up across the gig economy. And now these riders are looking at other options, including bike taxis and e-commerce deliveries. Delivery partners joined the gig workforce in droves during the pandemic when other employment options dwindled. But now they are getting better job opportunities as the economy is opening up, experts said.
The demand for gig workers in the quick commerce industry has exacerbated the supply shortage, especially in Bangalore, Mumbai, and New Delhi. Attrition and hiring new resources are also becoming harder.
There is a huge demand for delivery people, alongside the fact that there are so many options that are there right now in the market, essentially making the entire supply chain very erratic. Too many companies are vying for the same set of people. So earlier, somebody might have had the appetite to absorb, let’s say fuel or weather issues, but now they feel that the demand is high, optionality is higher… And that’s why the supply becomes erratic.