The world today is a competitive one, and the brands invest several marketing strategies and benefits to sustain in the ever increasing competitive market. But sometimes some brands are called out for their marketing attempts that are not healthy. The recent in the list in Zomato, that is facing backlash after it announced its new delivery system- Zomato’s 10 minutes delivery. The question being constantly asked it, what is Zomato trying to deliver in 10 minutes, food or death.
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Zomato’s new plan- Delivery in 10 minutes
Zomato has become the first in the world to announce ‘food delivery in 10 minutes’, advancing from its Zomato Pro delivery of 30 minutes. Taking in notice, the foodies Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal announced this new feature. Zomato founder Goyal took to Twitter to share this upcoming new feature with his followers and wrote “10 minute food delivery coming soon on Zomato,” and named it ‘Zomato Instant’.
Along with this he shared a link to Zomato’s official blog post and claimed to “achieve the impossible while ensuring delivery partner safety.”
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The blog post suggested that customers are increasingly demanding quicker answers to their needs. The customers don’t want plan, neither do they want to wait. It was further insisted that sorting restaurants by fastest delivery time is one of the most used feature on the Zomato app. While citing these arguments for the new 10 minute feature, the blog read, “30 minute delivery time by Zomato is too slow, and will soon become obsolete.”
Well, Goyal’s announcement did not go well with netizens and had left the Twitter space divided.
Netizens divided over Zomato’s new feature
However, Twitter did not seem to be satisfied with the explanation. After the announcement, a backlash ensued on social media. While a section of the users were elated by the fact that now their food will be delivered in no time, other Twitter users were concerned about the safety of the delivery boys.
The 10-minute delivery offer from @zomato is both dangerous and unnecessary: more than anything, it will endanger the lives of both riders as also people on roads and so something best avoided. No one is in such a rush or such an idiot to decide what to eat only 10 mins before!
— SUHEL SETH (@Suhelseth) March 22, 2022
10 min mein Fresh bana kar deliver ho jayega? Why putting risk to life of delivery boy?
Pro 30 min delivery itself was ok, 20 min bacha kar jyadatar log Whatsapp, FB/Twitter par hi to spend karenge?
— Vikrant ~ विक्रांत (@vikrantkumar) March 21, 2022
Don't you think, you are risking lives of your delivery partners? How will you ensure their safety when they need to rush in traffic to deliver within this short time?
And what abt food ?will it be cooked well in hurry?— 𝕾𝖊𝖊𝖒𝖆😎 (@Seemajay9) March 21, 2022
10 min 🙄
Delivery guy would be coming in a rush, driving bike on a higher speed than usual.
Why to risk someone's life just for few mins delay.
😐
Even if I get a chance to choose 10 min delivery. I am not going to opt for it.
— Vibhor Varshney (@nakulvibhor) March 21, 2022
Goyal issues clarification after the backlash
After facing wide criticism and being accused as one planning to push delivery partners into an unsafe and tough working environment, Zomato founder issued a clarification. In the clarification Goyal mentioned that the 10-minute delivery service “will be for specific nearby locations, popular and standardised items only.”
Again, 10-minute delivery is as safe for our delivery partners as 30-minute delivery.
God, I love LinkedIn :P
(2/2) pic.twitter.com/GihCjxA7aQ
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) March 22, 2022
He claimed that the delivery partners are not informed about the promised delivery time, be it 10 or 30 minutes delivery. He said, there are no penalties for late deliveries neither are there any incentives for all time deliveries. He further claimed that the 10 minute delivery update will lead to lesser time spent on the road per order and mentioned that the company is building new food stations to enable 10 minute service for specific customer locations only.
Though Zomato Founder has come up with the list of safety measures and efforts of educating their drivers on road safety, the mass is still not satisfied and is questioning the need of such a feature. There is a common thread running in the back of every one’s mind, what will be delivered in 10 minutes; food or death?