Covid-19: Delivery apps go contactless

In the wake of coronavirus pandemic, delivery apps have enabled mechanisms to ensure that the serve their customers while adhering to the basic norms of social isolation.

A virus, invisible except under a microscope, has made its presence felt worldwide, making people scarcely visible on the streets. But if there’s one category still brave enough to hit the road, it’s your average delivery person. Schools, malls, cinemas shut means more online orders. How safe is it, in social isolation terms, to have someone ring your doorbell and hand you a bag? Online service providers have risen to the challenge, adopting what they claim are ‘total hygienic practices’. Almost all of them, be it food, grocery, or gift providers, have introduced contactless delivery — the order is left outside the customer’s door — while encouraging users to pay online.

A delivery person on duty in Gurugram tries to leave a product outside, for the customer to collect later, so that there is no contact. (PHOTO: Parveen Kumar/HT)

Users of food delivery services Swiggy and Zomato can also opt to be informed of the delivery via a call instead of the doorbell. Meat and seafood provider FreshToHome has said its delivery executive will ring the customer’s doorbell, place the package at the door and step back.

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Online grocer Big Basket is sanitising its warehouses. “All warehouse employees are checked for symptoms and thermally scanned before entering,” says a spokesperson, adding, “Before proceeding for delivery, customer experience executives (CEEs) are being checked. All CEEs are given sanitisers and disposable gloves which are to be changed after every delivery to ensure minimal exposure.” It has also ensured all assets deployed for delivery, and currency notes, are managed through plastic covers, which are changed at the end of every delivery slot.

With markets shutting down, traffic on these platforms sees an uptick. “We continue to observe panic buying among consumers. Cities such as Kolkata saw a growth of 140%, followed by Delhi NCR (115%), Mumbai (80%), Bangalore (60%), Pune (85%) and Hyderabad (40%). We’ve seen a rise in both number of orders (65%) and order value (20%), over the previous month,” says Albinder Dhindsa, co-founder and CEO, Grofers.

Hence, ensuring the last mile too isn’t infected, is paramount. “We’ve told our delivery partners to self-quarantine or see a doctor immediately if they have any symptoms, and that they don’t need to force themselves to work for financial reasons if infected with Covid-19. We’ll provide financial assistance and medical insurance…,” Deepinder Goyal, Zomato’s founder, recently tweeted.

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FreshToHome has provided personal sanitisers and face masks to all delivery executives, besides checking the temperatures of employees before they begin their shift.

While social distancing has put a dampener on parties, conveying your wishes through gifts isn’t barred, yet. Anil Sharma, COO, Ferns N Petals Retail and Franchise, says, “We’re going by the directives of local authorities and have cut the number of employees at store level.”

So, when the coronavirus throws a quarantine, innovate!

Author tweets @srinidhi_gk