Zomato expands operations to 7 more cities as India forms its largest focus market

INDIA – Restaurant service and online delivery platform Zomato said it is expanding operations to seven more cities in tier II region with India forming its largest focus market in growth plan.

According to an article in the ETRetail, Zomato has gained a strong foothold in both tier II and tier III cities and this is built further with the expansion into the cities including Dehradun, Agra, Patna, Mysore, Ranchi, Raipur and Aurangabad.

The company said that it will further expand the service to cities within this month and the expansion brings Zomato’s food delivery services to 28 cities in India, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad included.

“We’re heads down focused on growing this business and are excited to bring Zomato’s food delivery services to these cities.

India is our largest focus market and growth in tier II and tier III cities has been really encouraging for us,” said CEO, Zomato, Mohit Gupta.

“We want to continue to reach out to more users in India, and make their interactions with restaurant much more seamless as compared to what they are right now.”

Counting on food deliveries

Zomato said food ordering brought in nearly 30% of Zomato’s revenue in FY18, with the share increasing from close to 18% in FY17.

In March 2018, the company said food delivery in India grew by 48% in terms of order volume over the previous month and revenue-wise by 55%.

Zomato launched its online ordering and food delivery services in May 2015 and currently delivers over 10.5 million orders a month.

In June this year, Zomato added an option to add a tip for the delivery person featuring special cases like sicknesses, special food requirements and allergies.

It recently launched a loyalty reward points program called Piggybank for ordering food via the platform.

Earlier in July, the company announced the expansion its online ordering and food delivery services to Surat, Vizag, Bhopal and Bhubaneswar and that it has partnered with 500 restaurants across these four cities.

According to the newly appointed CEO of the Zomato’s food delivery business Mohit Gupta, Vizag clocked over 1000 orders in under 10 days since the launch.