Food delivery company Zomato from 20 April onwards has increased the platform fee – it levies on its customers – by 25 percent to ₹5 per order, Economic Times quoted the Gurugram-based firm’s app as saying.
According to the report, the platform fee has surged in cities like National Capital Region, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Lucknow.
Earlier on 1 January, the firm had last increased the platform fee for users from ₹3 to ₹4. It is to be known that, another delivery company Swiggy – based in Bengaluru – charges a platform fee of ₹5 on per order.
Mint could not independently verify the report.
This platform fee is being charged by the food delivery apps apart from the delivery charges. In case where a customer opts for Zomato Gold loyalty programme, he or she doesn’t need to pay for the delivery charges, but still will have to pay the platform fees.
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In August 2023, the food delivery firm began charging the platform fee with ₹2 per order. After some months, in October, they hiked it to ₹3 and in January it was hiked to ₹4. While in April, it was surged to ₹5.
Meanwhile, Zomato’s quick-commerce platform Blinkit charges a handling charge of ₹2 on every order.
Following the food delivery firm started charging the platform fee in August, its quarterly profits surged to new heights. The firm’s quarterly profit for October-December period was ₹138 crore, compared to September quarter of ₹36 crore. In FY 23 December quarter, the firm had to attain a loss of ₹347 crore.
Among other things, the firm’s operating revenue for Q3FY24 was 69 percent year-on-year (YoY) to ₹3,288 crore – on a consolidated bases.
Intercity deliveries:
Aiming to revamp its model Legends, Zomato has suspended its intercity delivery service, added the report, saying it faced legal issues.
Zomato’s Legends was launched in 2022, where they delivered food from select restaurants in few cities to another selected set of cities. Later they made some changes in the model in 2023, where they started delivering pre-stocked items from other cities in lesser time.
However, Siddharth Jhawar, Zomato’s head of intercity delivery, resigned from the firm after three months of the intercity delivery service kicked off.
A Delhi-based resident in 2024 filed a lawsuit against Zomato in a district court, alleging that Zomato delivered pre-stocked items from nearby warehouses.
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Published: 21 Apr 2024, 10:40 PM IST