Till a year before the pandemic, e-commerce sites such as Big Basket and Grofers were the only digital alternatives to the neighbourhood kirana store or a supermarket. But India has come a long way from that, with food delivery startup Swiggy delivering groceries round the clock within half an hour in major cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru among others. With such convenience on fingertips, people are not afraid to ask for more and are even going ahead to search for the weirdest things on e-commerce sites.
Expecting too much?
As people can actually order weird things including wearable lobster claws and chicken harnesses on Amazon, Swiggy users have also been trying their luck. Since the app delivers grooming items and condoms as well as disposable plates, more than 8,000 people checked if they can buy underwear too. Even though getting fuel in bottles has been outlawed in India years back, almost 6,000 people looked up petrol on Swiggy Instamart.
From wishful to weird
There were also sofas and beds among other things that thousands of people expected Swiggy to deliver on the same day. But the most puzzling search term was mommy, which wasn’t looked up a couple of times, but instead more than 7,000 users searched for that. Even the social media team of the platform was left questioning why anyone would look for their mommy on a grocery app.
Platforms such as Swiggy, Zomato and others aren’t allowed to deliver alcohol or cigarettes, although rolling papers are available on the Swiggy. Through Instamart, it offers everything from kitchen essentials to medication, but sometimes people expect too much it seems.
