SUMMARY
Zomato has launched a pilot for app installation for other Indian startups
The Zomato app surfaces recommendations based on user's delivery orders
Zomato recorded 225% growth in revenue in the first half of FY20
Food aggregator Zomato has remained flexible and agile when it comes to monetisation over the years. The company went from listings to food delivery to events and cloud kitchens. The latest effort is a pilot programme for app installation campaigns that pop up after food delivery orders are confirmed. While Zomato has always advertised financial products — credit cards, specifically — this would be a new direction for the company in terms of monetisation, thanks to the targetted nature of the app installation prompts.
The company has tied up with at least four Indian startups — app-based Credit line MoneyTap, credit card rewards platform Cred, meat and seafood supplier Licious and edtech platform Unacademy — for the campaign as seen by Inc42. Zomato now shows direct install links to the applications run by these companies whenever a customer places an order. Zomato started running the campaign earlier in November and only has limited partners on board at the moment.
Zomato’s New Monetisation Strategy
While Zomato declined to respond to our queries on the new monetisation channel, one of its early partners, Licious told Inc42 that consumers with a high propensity for ordering meat and seafood dishes on Zomato will be shown an app installation ad for Licious. Zomato is seemingly using ordering and payments transaction data to surface these recommendations on its platform.
Speaking to Inc42, Satyendra Singh, head of online business and marketing at Licious, said. “Our aim is to develop the most loved meat and seafood brand in India. In that endeavour, we have decided to go ahead with the programme.”
Since the programme is still at a nascent stage, the outcome and the conversion ratio for these installation campaigns have not become clear to brands. However, Zomato has been able to help partner companies like MoneyTap, Cred, Licious and Unacademy to some extent. Like Singh told us, “The initial signs are positive, it seems like we’re on the right track. But we’ll have to get more data, track it and see the consumer reaction in the long run. If it’s all positive, we’ll continue doing this longer.”
MoneyTap’s head of partnerships, Saurabh Aggarwal told Inc42, “This is a pilot to acquire customers through Zomato. This is targeted to customers working in certain areas. It’s still too early to comment on the performance of this pilot.”
Neither Licious nor MoneyTap revealed how much Zomato charges brands for this app installation placement, and what are the rates for installation versus discovery.
Founded in 2008, Zomato is one of the largest food aggregator platforms in India. Since its launch, the company has expanded to over 24 countries across the world, registering over 55 Mn users. Zomato recorded 225% rise in revenue in the first half of the financial year 2020, ending September. According to filings, Zomato earned $205 Mn in revenue, compared to $63 Mn in the same period last year.
