Quick-commerce unicorn Zepto is experimenting with a membership programme called Zepto Pass.
Priced at Rs 99 per month, the membership offers unlimited free deliveries on orders costing over Rs 99, and discounts of up to 20% on certain orders. While discounts are available to some users for orders over Rs 299, for others the threshold is over Rs 699. The firm is currently offering the service to a targeted set of users, with some getting an introductory price of Rs 19.
With Pass, Zepto has become the second quick-commerce firm after Swiggy Instamart to offer subscription benefits. Swiggy’s listed rival Zomato, on the other hand, does not extend benefits from its Gold subscription to its quick-commerce service Blinkit.
“We are constantly running dozens of small experiments to improve customer experience. Only a few of these experiments are brought to market, hence we do not comment on them,” a spokesperson for Zepto said, declining to give further details about the plan.
Subscriptions are an important way for food-delivery and quick-commerce firms to boost usage and improve user loyalty. In its report for the quarter ended June 30, Zomato had said the Gold programme contributed over 30% of the total gross order value (GOV) for its food business, which stood at Rs 7,318 crore that quarter.
Swiggy, on the other hand, has been trying to expand the One subscription by bundling it with telecom subscriptions and banking products such as credit cards.
Swiggy One costs Rs 1,299 for three months without any discounts, whereas Zomato Gold costs Rs 999 for the same duration. However, both firms offer deep targeted discounts to customers; ET found three-month subscriptions of Zomato Gold going for Rs 99 and Rs 249 to different customers, whereas three-month subscriptions of Swiggy One were available for Rs 39 and Rs 149.
Quick-commerce firms have also been finding new ways to increase their revenue through avenues like advertising. On February 8, Blinkit said its ad revenue jumped more than threefold during the December quarter, compared to the same period a year ago.
Zepto’s revenue grew over 14 times to Rs 2,024 crore for the financial year ended March 2023. However, the Mumbai-based company incurred a loss of Rs 1,272 crore in FY23, over three times wider than in the previous year.
