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Faasos Food Services is an on-demand, food delivery business currently present in ten cities. We were the first company in India to start taking orders on Twitter. We launched the app in July 2014, and observed that even Tier 2 cities showed tremendous traction for ordering via the app. Overall, 97% of our sales comes from the mobile app. Hence, the decision to go app-only was fairly obvious.
We feel Faasos has a distinct advantage with its mobile app. It is not just a mobile version of the website. The entire proposition we now offer works best on the app. A customer can see the menu, catering to all meals — breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner, and based on the location know the estimated delivery time of the order. Faasos has built this technology in-house and provides these features in real time.
India is a young country with 150 million smartphone users, and this forms a large customer base for us. With time, the percentage of smartphone users will rise, which in turn will further fuel the demand for ordering via the app, especially in Tier 2 cities.
The app aims to personalise a customer’s taste and meal requirements on the basis of their location and time of the day. It would be difficult to optimise the meal options and estimated time of delivery if the food is ordered from a desktop computer or via phone call. We will also constantly have to seek permission to access location. The app takes care of everything. Also, the retention rate for consumers is higher on the mobile app than any other channel because of the convenience and hassle-free experience.
Globally, we are not aware of any food tech business, which has gone the app-only route. In India, Myntra is a good example as it was the first company to go app-only.
Jaydeep Barman & Kallol Banerjee are founders of Faasos
