Swiggy Instamart Introduces Wallet Credits, Fee Waivers Amid Growth Pressure
Swiggy Instamart has introduced wallet credits and selective delivery fee waivers as it looks to improve customer retention amid slowing order frequency growth.
SociapaHQ
Swiggy’s Instamart has introduced new wallet-credit and targeted delivery fee-waiver features, signalling a possible recalibration of its growth strategy as competition heats up in the quick commerce space.
According to a report by the Financial Express, the company said that now users who are placing orders below ₹99 can convert their delivery fees into wallet credits that they can redeem on future purchases.
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Quality Growth Strategy:
Instamart has also waived delivery fees on orders that include products from its private-label brand Noice, as well as select categories such as fresh dairy and vegetables.
The changes may appear incremental, but analysts say the move suggests the platform may be shifting its earlier strategy of focusing very much on improving profitability, bigger basket sizes, and reducing its dependence on low-average-order-value consumers.
The development comes on the back of Swiggy reaffirming “quality growth” as the primary goal for FY26.
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User Retention Strategy:
Swiggy had deliberately dialled back its exposure to users with low average order values, said Rahul Bothra on the company’s March quarter earnings call.
Instamart CEO Amitesh Jha had also tied moderation in monthly transacting users to the removal of infrequent users from the platform.
According to the company disclosures, in Q4FY26, Instamart had an ordering frequency of ~2.82 orders per transacting user per month compared to its rival Blinkit’s 3.36 orders in the same period.
Swiggy’s overall platform-wide ordering frequency fell for the fifth consecutive quarter to 4.01 in Q4FY26 from 4.22 in Q4FY25.
Monthly transacting users were up 27% in the period and order growth was 22%, suggesting that newer cohorts of customers were ordering less often than existing users.
The company earlier added close to 3 million users every quarter. In Q4FY26, the company added around 0.5 million users.
Analysts said the newly introduced wallet-credit and category-based delivery benefits indicate that Instamart may be adjusting its customer retention strategy without fully moving away from its broader focus on profitability and sustainable growth.
