Reliance-backed Dunzo Daily’s Bengaluru operations hit as delivery staff protest

Reliance Retail-backed Dunzo has seen its quick commerce operations under Dunzo Daily come to a screeching halt in Bengaluru — its largest market — over the past two days as its delivery executives have gone on strike to protest changes to its delivery policy, sources said.

Dunzo Daily, the 20-minute delivery service, was still not available in many pockets of Bengaluru as of Thursday afternoon. A message on its app read: “Dunzo Daily will be back in a while.”

DUNZO DAILY STRIKEETtech

“Operations were severely hit for Dunzo Daily in the last two days after protests by delivery partners at Dunzo’s office premises in Bengaluru,” a person aware of the matter said. “It’s partially back up now in certain areas of Bengaluru,” this person added.

The company has started to push the ‘batching of orders’ — meaning one delivery person is assigned multiple orders to service on a single trip. Dunzo has also made internal tech changes to how orders are assigned to delivery partners and how they will be picked, leading to further friction with the company.

ET reported last month that
Dunzo would push for order batching to reduce delivery costs and is looking to curb its spending after a season of hyper-growth in the first six months of the year. It is also incentivising users to choose longer (60-minute) delivery options.

Discover the stories of your interest

Dunzo shifts gearsETtech

This comes at a time when other quick commerce platforms like Swiggy’s Instamart, Zepto and BB Now (BigBasket) are still operating across Bengaluru even though delivery timelines are longer due to the ongoing rains and flooding in part of the city. Dunzo’s delivery timelines through its ‘local stores’ service have also been affected. “You can still order from nearby local stores,” read its message to users in areas where Dunzo Daily is not operating.

“While it’s business as usual for the majority of our stores in Bengaluru, a few partners, limited to a couple of locations, have raised certain issues and we are engaging with them to understand their concerns and work towards an effective resolution. We should be live in these locations also very soon,” a spokesperson for Dunzo said in an emailed statement.

Dunzo, which was known for its pick-up and drop service, made its entry into quick commerce around the time it
was finalising a Reliance Retail-led $240 million funding in January.

ET reported last month that
Dunzo had a monthly burn of over Rs 100 crore or around $15 million during the June quarter and in July, according to an internal presentation and people briefed on the matter.

It is planning to reduce its burn and has paused plans to expand to more cities. It continues to be in talks with various investors for a new round of funding and has engaged an investment bank, Morgan Stanley, for this.

Stay on top of technology and startup news that matters. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest and must-read tech news, delivered straight to your inbox.

For all the latest Technology News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.