Food delivery platform Zomato has introduced Zomato Pro Plus, a new membership service that is an ‘invite-only’ upgrade of Zomato Pro, offering select customers unlimited free deliveries without any distance or surge fee. This is over and above the regular Zomato Pro benefits of up to 40% discount on dining out and up to 30% discount on delivery along with priority delivery on all orders.
Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said in a tweet, “We have 1.8mn Zomato Pro members as of today. And one of the most requested features from our customers has been “Unlimited Free Deliveries” (something like Amazon Prime).”
We have 1.8mn Zomato Pro members as of today.
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) August 2, 2021
And one of the most requested features from our customers has been “Unlimited Free Deliveries” (something like Amazon Prime).
So… in a few hours, we are launching our Limited Edition *Pro Plus* membership for select customers… pic.twitter.com/RtL4ftDBpt
All Zomato Edition Black credit card holders will automatically be upgraded to Zomato Pro Plus, while others will need to buy the Pro Plus upgrade from the Zomato app, Goyal added. In response to a query, Goyal said that Zomato will bear the entire cost of this service and riders / delivery partners will not stand to lose income.
Zomato has started sending invites for Zomato Pro Plus membership to select customers from August 2, 2021. The cost of the membership plan has not been revealed yet. It will be available in 41 cities across the country. Currently, a 3-month membership for Zomato Pro costs Rs 200 while the annual membership is priced at Rs 750.
The company had rebranded its membership offering from Zomato Gold to Zomato Pro in June 2020. Pro members get access to exclusive delivery offers, over and above any deals available to other Zomato users. Pro members also get priority delivery leading to orders getting delivered 15-20% faster (on an average).
This is similar to Swiggy Super, which also comes with free deliveries and exclusive discounts. Swiggy’s unlimited free delivery plan, called Swiggy Super Binge, starts from Rs 329.
Zomato claimed there has been a major increase in the number of orders and customers due to the COVID-19 crisis and said that its food delivery business has been positive for the last four quarters.
The foodtech major made a stellar debut recently on the stock market, with the stock listing at a 52.6% premium at Rs 116 on the NSE. It saw a 66% rise in the share price on day one and a market capitalisation of a little over Rs 98,000 crore.