Swiggy unboxes professional services app Pyng under house of apps strategy

As food and grocery delivery firm Swiggy diversifies its offerings it is set to adopt a house of apps strategy with a new app for its professional services marketplace named Pyng.

The new platform is yet to open to users but is slated to launch soon. This is similar to Chinese tech giants like Alibaba and Meituan which also have had multiple apps under the group for various services. This is in contrast to the one ‘superapp’ strategy where consumers are expected to come for one basic use-case and transact through multiple services. Also, superapps are yet to see any noteworthy success at scale in India.

Pyng’s launch was preceded today with Swiggy unveiling Snacc as a separate 15-minute food delivery app besides Dineout and direct-to-commerce (D2C) brands marketplace Minis being standalone apps. Swiggy’s rival Zomato has launched a 15-minute food delivery service within the main app while its quick commerce firm Blinkit too has started Bistro—a 10-minute food delivery app. Zepto—the only standalone quick commerce firm—is also scaling its food business of Cafe through a separate app.

“The idea is to have multiple available options and some users will opt for separate apps for different needs,” a person aware of the matter said. The existing services on Swiggy's main app will remain as is.

ET had first reported about Swiggy’s plans for a services marketplace internally named Yello, on November 11.

A spokesperson for Swiggy didn’t respond to ET’s query on the matter.

Currently, Pyng is onboarding seller-side experts across segments like astrologers, financial consultants, health and fitness trainers, mental health experts, career mentors, education consultants, legal advisors, lifestyle purchase experts, events and entertainment, among others.

Swiggy’s Pyng is built broadly on the lines of Urban Company which offers several at-home services. Prosus is a common investor in both companies. However, Urban Company is mostly focused on handymen services such as electricians, plumbers and painters, among others.

Flipkart too has a small presence in at-home services.

The focus on launching new businesses is essentially linked to Swiggy’s long-term plans to go beyond food delivery, a strategy adopted by Zomato too as the food delivery business has largely plateaued. The 10-15-minute food delivery services being launched is an attempt to create incremental growth in the sector, executives told ET.

“These (10-minute Bolt service) are some of the examples along with affordability to make sure the long-term growth is there and monthly transacting users can be healthy,” Swiggy chief executive Sriharsha Majety had told ET in an interview in October in the run-up to its IPO.

Swiggy’s rival Zomato has adopted a house of brands strategy and kept its different offerings housed under different apps. It recently launched District for its going-out business, which includes live events, ticketing and dining out.

Speaking at the ET Startup Awards 2024 in October, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal had said that the company was transitioning dining out from its main app to the District as food delivery deserved a separate app.

In January last year, ET had reported that Zomato had halted Blinkit’s integration with the mainstay food delivery service. Goyal has told the company’s top management on multiple occasions that superapps don’t work in India as well as they do in China with the Indian consumer preferring “super brands”.

Zomato group’s app offerings currently include the main food delivery app Zomato, quick commerce app Blinkit, 10-minute food delivery platform Bistro, going-out platform District, and business-to-business (B2B) grocery ordering service Hyperpure.