Zomato Launches Feature For Users To Schedule Order Two Days In Advance

Foodtech major Zomato has unveiled an ‘order scheduling feature’, which will now give users an option to schedule deliveries from two hours to two days in advance. 

“This feature is now available at more than 35,000 restaurants across 30 cities – Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Raipur, Ahmedabad, and others,” the company said in a blog post on Friday (October 25). 

This comes days after the platform hiked its fee for the fourth time this year, to INR 10, ahead of the festive season. 

Notably, Zomato’s rival Swiggy already has a similar service called ‘Swiggy Scheduled,’ which was initially launched in 2018.

The company has also received board approval to raise INR 8,500 Cr (around $1 Bn) through a qualified institutional placement (QIP).

However, after five consecutive quarters of profit growth, the foodtech giant reported a 30% drop in consolidated net profit, which fell to INR 176 Cr in the latest quarter from INR 253 Cr in the previous June quarter. 

This quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) decline was driven by rising expenses. However, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, profits surged 389% from INR 36 Cr in Q2 FY24.

Despite the profit slump, Zomato’s offline business saw rapid growth this quarter, partly due to its recent acquisition of Paytm Insider.

Meanwhile, in the highly competitive quick commerce space, Zomato is battling players like Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and Tata-owned BigBasket, as well as new entrants like Reliance’s JioMart and Flipkart’s Minutes.

Notably, Zomato’s Blinkit recently lost market share in the Delhi NCR region, dropping from 47% to 42%.