New Delhi, Apr 24 (IANS): Amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the intention to purchase from major food delivery apps like Zomato and Swiggy has gradually increased after witnessing a decline till the last week of March, a new report said on Friday.

The pandemic affected the 'Buzz' scores (whether one has heard anything positive or negative about a brand in the past fortnight) of these brands, which started declining when the outbreak first hit India around early March.

The survey, conducted by YouGov, an Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, showed that between March 15-April 16 this year, Zomato witnessed a weakening customer base from 46.3 to 41.7 whereas for Swiggy, the scores were from 48.8 to 42.4.

In order to address the building paranoia around the virus, both Swiggy and Zomato offered services like no-contact delivery, provided necessary safety materials to their staff, and later ventured into the delivery of grocery and essential items.

The ‘Buzz' score for Zomato saw a rise from 47.5 to 50.6 between March 15 to April 16. For the same time period, after an initial slump, the scores for Swiggy stabilised, with a marginal increase from 50.6 to 51.0.

Even impression (whether one has a positive/negative impression of a brand), which took a hit initially, recovered after the introduction of these measures, up by 1.5 and 2.1 points, respectively, for Zomato and Swiggy.

The survey also revealed that as of mid-April around two-thirds of urban Indians (64 per cent) said they are very or fairly scared about contracting the coronavirus.