With Gold, Zomato secures recall in restaurants

At any restaurant these days, the waiter taking the order inevitably asks, "Sir, aapka Zomato Gold membership hai? Ek ke saath ek free offer hai." Translating to, "Sir, do you have a Zomato Gold membership? There is a buy one get one offer." Apart from the business and transactional objectives of both, the restaurant and Zomato, this does two things – it makes the customer conscious of the brand and if the customer was already aware, it brings about a sense of regret for not being a Zomato Gold member.

It takes us back to the brick-and-mortar retailers, where the sales person (who is usually the owner himself) recommends a brand to the customer and educates about the best available offers.

Zomato Gold is Zomato's premium dining-out membership programme. Subscribers can avail offers on food and drinks like buy one-get one, etc. As per Zomato's claims, the company has 1.4 million Gold subscribers globally and around a million of them are in India. The company now has 6,300 restaurants in India on Gold (for dining out). While the programme encourages dining in, it was recently extended to delivery and the company claims that 10,000 restaurants have already opted in. Recently, in a blog, Zomato revealed plans for 'special deals and offers' over regular Gold discounts including free valet parking in malls.

Zomato's programme plays in the domain of restaurant aggregator platforms like Dineout, Burrp!, Nearbuy and EazyDiner. While Zomato Gold and Dineout have resorted to attacking the 'bill' with offers in their campaigns, Eazydiner chose the narrative of rewarding good service in their latest campaigns.

Expert speak:

"I can equate that to the situation of dealer influence. Say, I visit a store with multiple considerations. The dealer comes up and suggests a brand and says that it's the best option for my need. If I trust the dealer and find it interesting, I will give it a thought. And then the dealer asks me if I have an HDFC card, because there is a discount on using that card for the transaction. Instead of considering the dealer as pushy, I would find it good service and realise his concern about my welfare," says Sridhar Ramanujam, chief executive officer and founder, Brand-Comm.

"On Zomato's part, the younger customers who are the usual target audience, are always looking at having the best deal during their purchases. It can boost Zomato's membership. If the customers feel that they are missing out on something crucial and if members of a group of friends have it and others realise the benefit, it is going to work. It is a thing with the younger lot, they don't like to be left out," he explains.

"It creates great brand recall and makes people think, 'Oh, I should have got it when I had a chance to'. And this cue comes from third parties who are not working for Zomato," says communications consultant Karthik Srinivasan.

Rahul Vengalil, founder of digital agency WhatClicks, says, "Keeping the business objective aside, the question from the waiters creates a feeling of exclusivity among the consumers, and that goes a long way for the brand. It in turn creates curiosity among the consumers who aren't on Zomato Gold, which dovetails into the business growth. Besides this, consumers will also turn out to be the advocates in the long run, asking the restaurants and eateries if they are on Zomato Gold, creating more POS."