Heavy rains and water logging have severely impacted quick commerce and food delivery platforms across North India, leading to cancellation of orders and non-delivery at hundreds of pin codes even as restaurant chains and entertainment hubs, particularly in Delhi-NCR, reported significantly lower footfalls over the weekend.“Fresh supplies have been affected because of roadblocks and riders of ecommerce platforms are struggling to deliver,” said Anjan Chatterjee, chairman of Speciality Restaurants, which operates Mainland China and Oh! Calcutta restaurants. “Whenever there are such barriers and hindrances for people to step out, business suffers. This is most unfortunate, because otherwise in pleasant weather, consumers like to dine out or order in more frequently,” he said.Netizens posted multiple videos and photos of jams and traffic affected due to heavy waterlogging and breakdown of large vehicles at various cities including Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Punjab and even Pune in the West, leading to dine-in footfalls dropping by up to 50% and deliveries either getting cancelled or delayed, despite rain surge charges levied by the platforms.“Over the last four days, we have seen 50% cancellations for dine-ins in the Delhi-NCR region… People are anxious about moving out because of waterlogged streets and traffic,” said Priyank Sukhija, founder of First Fiddle, which operates upscale resto-bars Diablo, Lord of the Drinks and Tamasha.Navdeep Dahiya, programme manager and weather forecaster at food delivery platform Zomato, which also owns quick commerce platform Blinkit, wrote on social media platform X on Sunday afternoon about very heavy rains lashing Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad, with various parts of these places experiencing water logging and possibly worsening conditions.Over the years, food delivery platforms have been working to minimise the impact of disruptions caused by rains, executives said, but increasing incidents of waterlogging in cities lead to operational disruptions – albeit temporarily.With predictions of heavy rains for the next two weeks across Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan and Punjab, especially, executives said they foresee a significant impact on business amid continued civic woes and inefficient drainage.“When it rains, most of us would not like to go out and (instead) order in…but at the same time our delivery partners also don’t want to go out,” a Gurgaon-based executive at a food delivery firm said. “We have also tried to better our understanding of the weather to prepare by having a certain buffer of manpower supply… But in extreme situations like it is now in Gurgaon, there is little to be done other than wait for it to pass,” he added.Another senior food delivery executive said poor quality of roads and waterlogging might be among the reasons for “a sudden drop in delivery partner supply when it starts to rain heavily in certain pockets.”“So those are some of the things that the country will have to work on. We (companies) will also have to figure out what are some other ways in which we can get more riders to log in,” the person said.Quick commerce companies also face severe disruptions on account of heavy rains and the subsequent waterlogging, company executives and on-ground personnel told ET.In a statement to ET, a Swiggy spokesperson said, “While orders continue for both food and quick commerce, we’re focused on ensuring that our delivery partners have a safe delivery experience. During rains, the rain hardship allowance increases with increasing intensity and even after.”The person said the firm is closely monitoring its riders’ locations, especially in water-logged areas, “and assisting them through the Swiggy Ride and Repair initiative in case of breakdowns or delays.”Zomato, Blinkit and Zepto did not comment.Food delivery and quick commerce platforms usually levy an additional fee on customers during rainy weather. “Rains in Delhi-NCR are getting worse by the year… The first impact is that delivery timelines increase,” an official at a quick commerce company said on condition of anonymity. “The biggest issue arises when it happens during peak hours for grocery delivery (early morning and evening)… After a point, it is tough to get riders to deliver and there are only a few of them servicing a dark store that typically would see hundreds of orders every hour.”Raja Shaikh, a Noida-based delivery partner for Swiggy Instamart, said there is enough gear such as raincoats, helmets, body protectors provided by the company to protect from the rains, but heavy rains mean riders feel it’s not safe to drive and decide to log out.“We can upload a picture of the weather and roads to the app and notify the company that it’s raining heavily…and the company will check with the dark store operator and suspend deliveries. We want to fulfil orders but sometimes it’s not possible to drive safely in bad weather,” he said.“Rains still come and go…it gets better after some time and deliveries resume,” Shaikh said. “Summers are worse…DPs (delivery partners) face extreme heat throughout the day.”
Published On Aug 13, 2024 at 09:00 PM IST
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