Uber now delivers groceries, Zoomcar eases emergency travel during COVID-19 lockdown
Soon after PM Narendra Modi announced lockdown due to the novel coronavirus outbreak companies and start-ups such as Uber, Zoomcar, among others suspended their service across the country. Amidst the lockdown — which has now been extended till April end — only personnel allowed out of their residences are people engaged with the essential services and goods including medical professionals, pharma personnel, and other providers of daily essential services. Zoomcar is helping doctors, delivery executives to travel safely during the lockdown.
Due to the surge in demand online grocery platforms are taking at least 4-5 days (approx) to deliver orders. To ease the delivery of daily essentials following are some companies that have collaborated with grocery suppliers and food delivery services to supply and deliver orders without much delay.
Zoomcar
Zoomcar has stepped up to ease the emergency transportation woes faced during the lockdown period. While Zoomcar grounded its fleet after the lockdown was announced but now the company is utilizing select vehicles to ensure emergency mobility for the frontline workforce including bankers, healthcare professionals, and delivery executives.
Zoomcar is partnering with various organizations that are considered essential in this lockdown to ensure their employees are provided a safe commuting option.
Uber has also partnered with local government authorities to launch Uber Essential to service critical travel needs.
Uber
Uber suspended its service all across the country soon after the lockdown was announced by PM Modi. The ride-hailing service recently partnered with daily essential providers Flipkart and Big Basket to deliver orders to Indian homes. Uber has also collaborated with Kolkata-based Spencer’s to deliver groceries ordered by the citizens.
Uber has also partnered with local government authorities to launch Uber Essential to service critical travel needs. This could include a visit to a hospital, pharmacy or a grocery store that has been explicitly permitted by the local authorities.
Running out of groceries? These apps are delivering daily essentials at your doorstep
The company is also working closely with hospitals and introduced Uber Medic, a dedicated fleet with top-rated drivers to help move frontline healthcare workers reliably and efficiently. Uber has also partnered with the National Health Authority, to facilitate the provision of free rides to offer a better experience to healthcare workers.
Zomato
To sever the citizens of India Zomato has also introduced its own online grocery store by partnering with the local shops. The service is called Zomato Market. It is available on the Zomato food delivery app itself on both iOS as well as Android. All daily essentials are available on the Zomato Market. Zomato has expanded its grocery delivery service to more corners of the country.
Swiggy has rebranded its grocery service to Swiggy Go.
Swiggy
Similar to Zomato, Swiggy is also delivering groceries and other daily essentials to users. The company has rebranded its grocery service to Swiggy Go. The service is available on the Swiggy food delivery app itself for both iOS and Android users. Swiggy has recently expanded its Swiggy Go service to more parts of the country. The company has collaborated with local retailers to successfully complete the orders.
Shopclues
Given people are not buying clothes and dresses during this crisis shopping websites like ShopClues have moved into the grocery business. It has partnered with local grocery stores to home deliver daily essentials to people around the world.