Here’s why Zomato split its app into two

Zomato has made restaurant exploring easy and fun. With its app, we have all the essential intel about a restaurant or an eatery at our fingertips. It brings out the epicurist and restaurant connoisseur in all of us. However, the one thing I’ve always found amiss with Zomato was the inability to order food online; I am sure most users have the same feedback. Well, the attentive folks at Zomato have taken note and acted. Today, it unbundled its app into two – Zomato restaurant finder and Zomato Order.

“We have currently rolled out the online ordering feature in Delhi NCR with around 1,000 restaurant partners. We will soon go live in Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. Over the next few months, we are aiming to offer this feature with over 10,000 restaurant partners in India,” says Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO, Zomato.

Click, pay, eat

It could have integrated the online order functionality into its existing app instead of unbundling it. However, Zomato chose not to do so and came up with an entirely new app dedicated purely to online ordering. The company has some pretty valid reasons behind taking this risky step:

More focus = less clutter = better UX. Two separate apps would mean lightweight apps offering a more focused experience. It would also mean less clutter and enhanced usability.

Independent release cycles = fewer updates. Both apps would function independently and the updates can be released separately for both the apps.

Deep-linking = smooth app experience. According to Goyal, both the apps being deep linked to one another would ensure seamless and efficient switching between the two, thereby enabling a smoother app experience for its users.

Zomato aims to act as a platform to allow users to discover restaurants, see menus, select dishes, and order meals online for delivery. Payments can be made only in cash on delivery at the moment, with epayment options to be added soon. “The restaurant has to manually accept each order from a user before it’s processed, instead of passing orders from users to restaurants, as done by other ordering services. We are not handling the logistics of the actual delivery of food but are facilitators between consumer and the restaurants offering home delivery,” he explains.

It’s a jungle out there with pandas and owls

The online food ordering space is pretty crowded. Rocket Internet’s online food service Foodpanda is the biggest player around. It recently raised US$110 million in funding, on top of the US$60 million raised during a previous round. Combined, it has secured funding worth US$218 million. Earlier this year, it also went on an acquisition-frenzy and bought six rival startups across seven countries, including Just Eat and Tasty Khana in India.

Location-based food ordering service TinyOwl is also out on the prowl. Earlier this year, it raised US$16 million in series B funding. Snapdeal’s founders, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal are its angel investors. With all this money, the tiny owl grew into a huge magnificent bird of prey, spreading its wings and covering other major cities such as Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, and Pune.

With all these major players competing in the online food ordering space, Goyal remains unfazed. On the contrary, he believes it’s a good thing. “I strongly believe that competition is good, it ensures a constantly improving customer experience. We believe we have a comprehensive advantage – an exhaustive and inclusive database of restaurant listings, a solid sales force, and an ever-increasing user base,” he says.

On the merchant side, Goyal believes Zomato’s large sales force is the most potent weapon in its arsenal. Its adept sales team interacts personally with restaurant owners on a regular basis to keep them informed of its product updates. “We also have a large number of clients on board, so ramping up this business is going to be much faster than any of the other players,” he says.