Thus far, Zomato had enabled users to tip their delivery partners, but it now seems to be enabling users to tip the platform itself.
Zomato is now letting users choose the delivery fee that they pay to the platform. The lowest amount that users can choose is the lowest platform fee of Rs. 10 that Zomato currently charges. But users have the option to pay as much as Rs. 40 as platform fee.
Users have reported seeing a little “Edit” button next to the platform fee. On clicking it, Zomato says “Like what we do? Show us some love!”. A sliding bar lets users choose a “platform fee”, starting from the default of Rs. 10 and going up to Rs. 40. Once a user picks a platform fee, it is added to the overall order.
This is a pretty unique approach — it’s hard to think of another Indian company that’s asked users to give it more money than was required simply if they “love what they do”. Zomato’s platform had been pretty contentious when it was first introduced — it had started off as a harmless Rs. 2 fee, which had caused users to comment on it as an additional “tax” on their orders. But this platform has stealthily increased over the months to now reach Rs. 10 per order.
And Zomato “encouraging” users to pay as much as Rs. 40 per order could be a precursor for Zomato increasing its fee once again. By first starting off the fee as optional, Zomato has seeded the idea into people’s heads that Rs. 40 could be a valid amount to pay Zomato for each order, and going by the results of their experiment, could well increase the platform fee again.
It’s not obvious why Zomato needs to keep increasing its platform fee very few months. Zomato is already profitable, and is making money on its food delivery business. Interestingly, Zomato and Swiggy have acted together in concert, first to introduce the platform fee, and then to increase it simultaneously over the last few months. And if Zomato’s platform fee ends up touching Rs. 40 per order — as it seems to be teasing with its new edit platform fee feature — it might interest the Competition Commission of India as to how two players in a duopoly seem to be rapidly raising rates after having decimated the competition by making losses over the years.