Aashwin Shanker, Mumbai Uncensored, 12th July 2021:
BENGALURU: Online food ordering app Zomato said it is on the oath of recovery after a decline in revenue during the pandemic. It said the growth in the first part of this fiscal year was better than the first part of last fiscal year. Zomato is now planning to tap into the grocery sector and has made huge investments in the grocery etailer Grofers.
Zomato reported a 23.5% decline in its operating revenue of Rs.1993 crore from last year’s Rs.2604 crore. Losses also dropped from Rs.822 crore to Rs.2608 crore and even the expenses nearly halved Rs.2608 crore from Rs.5000 crore. Meanwhile Zomato is going to launch its IPO next week.
Food delivery business was hit in the first wave of COVID due to fear of virus and surface transmission. The fear of surface transmission has gone away and we have delivered crores of orders in the last 18 months without even a single case of transmission through food delivery said CFO Akshant Goyal.
The company’s average order value has also been steadily increasing from Rs.287 to Rs.395.
Akshant Goyal said that they have invested $100 million for a minority stake in Grofers with the idea of getting more exposure and also plans to launch something similar on their platform on a pilot basis.
Zomato shares will be around Rs.72-76 after being listed at the stock exchange on 27th July. Zomato received majority of its investment from Info Edge, Alipay, Ant Financial, Tiger Global and Sequoia said that it had a contribution margin of Rs23 per order on average in Q3 of last year which was more than Rs30.5 in the previous year.
The company on an average is making money per order which has been possible due to increase in commission.
