In a detailed response, food delivery app Swiggy refuted the anonymous Tumblr post allegedly written by former and current employees, accusing the organisation of cheating its business partners, investors, employees and customers.
In a blog post, Sriharsha Majety, the CEO of Swiggy rejected the claims made by the anonymous writers with a point-by-point explanation.
To begin with, the Tumblr post titled Swiggy Sales – A House of Cards accused Swiggy of lying about their market shares and ordering volumes to investors and restaurants.
To this, Majety said the actual numbers have been verified by external, neutral auditors (a part of the big four) as part of our standard due diligence that is done before every fund raise.
He maintained that the sheet screenshot provided by the blog is a fabrication.
Check out the November ’16 orders as per the investor deck: at 63804 per day, and compare that with the excel sheet at 78010 per day. If the 78010 orders per day were right, why would the investor deck report lower numbers? The excel sheet screenshot is a complete fabrication as is a lot more in the post
Regarding the allegations of cheating their business partners, Swiggy’s CEO said that his organisation has not deceived but exposed small businessmen to a large base of customers.
We do not lie about our market share or order numbers. We are the clear market leaders and we communicate the same to restaurants and partners to show them the benefits of partnering with us. Nobody will stay on the platform if they don’t see value in this partnership
The Tumblr post had accused Swiggy of violating contracts and increasing the percentage of commission they receive from the restaurant owners. “At first it was 5%, then 10% and now nearly 25%. The management wants us to take this to an average of 30% in the future,” the post said, which will bleed the businesses dry.
“As mentioned above, the commissions we charge are a function of the value we generate for the restaurant. The reason we started low is because we wanted to first convince the restaurant partners about the amount of value we bring to the table before requesting for higher numbers. Also to clarify – Our revenue per order (the 30% that is being talked about) is a blend of 3 parts, the commission we get from the restaurants, delivery fee charged from the consumers and discretionary advertising revenues,” Majety said in response.
Sriharsha also rejected the allegations made on company culture and employees being lied to.
“No false promises are made to any employees. Bonuses are paid fairly and transparently, as in any organisation with core values and processes intact. We have hired to support the strong growth we’ve seen. Our compensation structure is transparent, fair and consistent,” he said.
Read the full response put forth by Swiggy here.
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