Areo, Google's hyper local services app gets launched in India
What's the story
Google has launched its new hyper-local delivery services app called Areo in India for Bengaluru and Mumbai residents.
The app aims to be a combination of lifestyle service providers like UrbanClap and food delivery services like Swiggy and Zomato.
Aforementioned apps have already established themselves in the delivery space and it remains to be seen if Areo manages to dent their market share.
Beta services
Why did Google go for a 'hush-hush' launch for Areo?
Products launched by Google are usually announced first on company's blog and then made public with a press release, but that was not the case with Areo.
Areo is one of those beta services by Google that the company released first in India to gauge the response from a larger audience.
Android One program, Allo and YouTube Go were also launched first in India.
Data
Google's vested interest in India
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has said that in 3-4 years India would be a $1 trillion digital economy and, therefore, as a company it makes sense for them to focus on consolidating this huge market and create curated products to suit its demands.
Growth
The online food delivery market in India is growing rapidly
The estimated gross merchandising value of food delivery business in India was of $300 million with an year on year growth rate of 150% in 2016.
According to a RedSeer Consulting report, the restaurants associated with the delivery apps have achieved their 30-35% of total businesses from online food delivery.
Zomato and Swiggy have pursued a competitive expansion and come armed with proper funding.
Premier membership
Zomato to introduce premier membership in India from June
After introducing its premium membership subscription Zomato Gold in Dubai, the firm announced in its blog post that they will introduce this service here in June.
Zomato Gold will be available to customers on quarter, semi-annual and annual membership basis and offer exclusive deals on drinks at various pubs and restaurants.
Two other initiatives, Zomato Red and Zomato Infrastructure Services will also be introduced.
UberEATS
Uber to bring its food delivery app UberEATS to India
In a blog post, Uber Technologies Inc. announced that it will soon launch its food delivery service UberEATS in India.
The app will be launched in major cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai among others.
Cars affiliated to Uber or individual delivery personnel will be used to make the delivery.
Do you know?
UberEATS, take your pick
UberEATS has two models in its food delivery service app - in one the entire menu of the restaurant is available to the customer, while in the other one an exclusive menu of curated items will be offered, which can be ordered and delivered faster.
Paid service
Zomato rolls out its first paid subscription with "free dessert"
Keeping up with its ongoing paid service strategy, Zomato recently launched Zomato Treats which offers free dessert when the subscribers order food online from partnered hotels.
Around 20% users in Gurugram are already availing the facility and it is soon to be introduced in 16 more cities throughout India.
The subscription is available to the customers for Rs. 249 per year.
Food-delivery robots
Yelp is working on robot food deliveries
Forget about food delivery apps, Yelp has started testing food-delivery robots created in partnership with Marble, a San Francisco start-up and aims to deliver food fresh and warm sans any delay.
These waist-high in height robots are called Marblebots and it uses sensor data along with advanced maps to avoid a collision, navigating through the crosswalks to deliver food safely.
Do you know?
You can't beat chicken biryani!
According to a survey done by food start-up Swiggy, Chicken Biryani topped the list and was ordered more than any other dish on their platform in all the major cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai.