Swiggy, India’s leading food and grocery delivery platform, is shutting down Minis, its online storefront product for small businesses and creators. The move underscores the company’s sharpened focus on high-frequency, high-scale verticals like food delivery and quick commerce (Instamart), as it sheds non-core experiments in its journey toward profitability. In this article, we explore why Minis is being phased out, how it fits into Swiggy’s larger business pivot, and what it signals for the startup ecosystem.
Credits: Republic World
The End of Swiggy Minis: A Short-Lived Experiment
Swiggy has informed sellers that Minis will be discontinued by August 10, 2025. Merchants have been asked to complete any pending orders, withdraw payouts, and shut down their storefronts before the deadline.
Launched in late 2022, Minis was an ambitious project aimed at empowering small merchants, solopreneurs, and content creators with simple digital storefronts. Without needing to build a website or pay commission, users could list products or services, manage payments and deliveries, and drive traffic from platforms like Instagram or WhatsApp.
For a while, Minis was even promoted within the Swiggy app, giving small businesses valuable visibility. But despite this initial momentum, the product gradually faded from prominence.
From SaaS Hopes to Silent Shutdown
Minis was part of Swiggy’s broader plan to diversify its offerings and create SaaS-style tools for India’s growing cohort of independent sellers. It followed other Swiggy experiments like Swiggy Genie, Handpicked (gourmet groceries), and InsanelyGood (premium groceries, now merged with Instamart).
In 2024, Minis was restructured to resemble a “link-in-bio” tool—similar to Linktree—targeting creators and influencers who operate social-first businesses. However, unlike platforms such as Dukaan or Shopify, Minis never offered robust backend integrations for inventory, analytics, or marketing automation. As a result, its utility remained limited for more serious sellers.
With visibility declining within the Swiggy ecosystem and competition heating up from Linktree, Meta, and Dukaan, Minis struggled to scale or sustain engagement.
Swiggy’s New Playbook: Sharpening the Focus
The closure of Minis is part of Swiggy’s ongoing strategy to prune loss-making or low-traction bets and concentrate on its biggest growth drivers—food delivery and Instamart. The company has been executing a systematic clean-up of side ventures over the last two years.
Here’s what Swiggy has shuttered recently:
-
Swiggy Genie: Its hyperlocal pick-up and drop service
-
InsanelyGood: Merged into Instamart
-
Swiggy Meat Marketplace
-
Handpicked: A premium grocery experiment
This consolidation effort reflects investor pressure and internal focus on profitability, as Swiggy eyes a much-anticipated IPO in the near future.
Doubling Down on Instamart and Price Innovation
While phasing out low-impact verticals, Swiggy is turbocharging its grocery delivery service, Instamart. In Q4 FY25 alone, the company added 316 dark stores, bringing the total to 1,021—up sharply from 705 in the previous quarter. The aggressive expansion suggests strong demand in the quick commerce segment, and Swiggy is clearly playing to win.
Additionally, Swiggy has introduced a Rs 99 Store—a new pricing innovation offering single-serve dishes at a flat ₹99 with free delivery. Targeted at students and Gen-Z consumers, this initiative is already live across 175+ cities, positioning Swiggy to serve the price-conscious mass market.
Credits: Moneycontrol
What This Means for Sellers and the Broader Market
The sunsetting of Minis sends a strong signal to India’s digital entrepreneurs: big platforms are re-focusing, and side bets may not offer long-term stability. For small sellers and creators, this means leaning into more dedicated platforms like Shopify, Dukaan, or even Meta’s native stores that offer deeper tools and long-term support.
For Swiggy, this is about discipline, scale, and sustainable growth. With the IPO clock ticking, every move seems calibrated to tighten operations and improve margins.
Swiggy’s decision to shutter Minis may disappoint some, but it also marks a clear-headed pivot toward what works—and what scales. As India’s digital economy matures, such strategic clarity may become the new norm.
