Zomato to roll out speedy delivery service for customers during illness

Announcement comes after firm claims it crossed the 3 million mark for monthly orders

Restaurant discovery and food ordering service Zomato is introducing a new feature that will allow customers to ask for quicker deliveries when they are feeling a bit under the weather, likening it to calling an ambulance during medical emergencies.
 

The feature, which is currently being tested, will be rolled out with the next app update. The announcement comes as Zomato says it crossed the three million monthly orders milestone and is looking to add new meaningful features to get customers to order from its app more frequently.

"You will soon be able to tell us that the meal you just ordered is for someone who's a bit under the weather...and we will do everything in our power to expedite your delivery, just so that you can get your chicken clear soup as soon as possible," the company wrote in a blogpost on Thursday.

While the feature will be available for all users, the company will advise users to not misuse it by asking them to treat it like an ambulance. The update will also allow customers to instruct restaurants not to include cutlery (almost always made out of plastic) in their order, thereby, promoting conversation of environment.

It took the company eight months' time to expand the number of orders placed from its app from one million to two million orders, suggesting that growth is now compounding.

Despite this strong growth, the company says its cost of customer acquisition is still negligible, with its restaurant discovery arm still continuing to draw in new customers. In terms of retention, Zomato says that 65 per cent of new users on its platform will order at least once again from it within 12 months.

Over the past year, Zomato has recovered from turmoil after scaling down operations in India and some key global markets. The company had even downsized staff on account of pressure from investors as it missed growth targets.

While reduced competition in India's food-tech space has led to returning sensibilities in terms of discounting, players such as Swiggy, Zomato and FoodPanda still have some way to go before they can turn profitable. For now, the fear is that global giants Uber and Google that have entered the space could kick off another price war.