Zomato Stops New Signups, Renewals For Zomato Pro Subscription

Foodtech giant Zomato has stopped fresh signups or subscription renewal of its loyalty program Zomato Pro. The move comes on the heels of Zomato tweaking multiple changes in its business model to scale and become profitable. 

After shutting the premium iteration of Zomato Pro – Zomato Pro Plus in May this year – the startup is now shutting Zomato Pro after two years of launch. Zomato had first launched a customer loyalty programme as Zomato Gold in 2017, which was later rebranded as Zomato Pro in 2020. 

Zomato in a message to its existing Pro users or users trying to sign up said that the services are unavailable for renewable “as we are working on a new better experience for you.” 

The company in a statement said, “ While Zomato Pro and Pro Plus have been loved tremendously by our customers and restaurant partners, we want it to be even more beneficial, especially for the most engaged customers and restaurant partners. We are taking feedback and working closely with our customers and restaurant partners to craft a new program. Meanwhile, we are not onboarding new members and restaurant partners to Zomato Pro and Zomato Pro Plus.” 

While active members can continue to get the benefits as promised, they will not be able to extend/renew their memberships once their membership tenure expires. 

The startup’s chief financial officer Akshant Goyal during the earning call of Q1 of FY23 had hinted at the recalibration of Zomato Pro. Back then he said to grow customer frequency, Zomato will have to look beyond loyalty programmes to introduce newer cases which will lead to increase in offline spend on restaurant onboarding on Zomato. 

In Q1 of FY23, Zomato’s food delivery reported an adjusted revenue of INR 1,470 Cr whereas its B2B Hyperpure business reported adjusted revenue of INR 270 Cr. It reported an adjusted revenue of INR 70 Cr from dining-out and membership revenue, i.e., Zomato Pro. 

The latest developments come on the heels of Inc42 exclusively reporting on Zomato’s piloting intercity delivery move – Zomato Intercity Legends. Users can order food from different cities and get it delivered in 24 hours of time through roadways or airways. Apart from this, Zomato’s new acquisition Blinkit is piloting 11 minutes printout delivery, which has further raised eyebrows at the listed food delivery giant. 

This development was first reported by The Indian Express.