Zomato has unveiled a new app called ‘District,’ which consolidates its “going-out” services, including dining and ticketing for movies and events. This launch signifies Zomato’s venture into a broader range of lifestyle services, all integrated into a single platform. Deepinder Goyal, the company’s founder, explained the rationale behind this move, stating, “Today, Zomato and Blinkit are our two large consumer businesses, serving customers’ needs at home. However, we also have one of India’s largest ‘going-out’ businesses, helping our customers discover restaurants for dining out.”
Goyal emphasized the potential for growth in the ‘going-out’ sector, saying, “We believe that there is an opportunity to further expand our going-out offering, building on top of our dining-out business. Additional use cases for customers in the going out space include – movies, sports ticketing, live performances, shopping, staycations etc., some of which we have already launched, or are building as we speak.”
With this new app, Zomato is positioning itself to challenge BookMyShow, the dominant player in India’s online movie ticket booking market, which holds a 60% market share. Goyal expressed optimism about the potential impact of ‘District,’ noting, “Building a one-stop destination app for going-out could be a game-changer for each of these use cases, and we intend to do exactly that with our new District app. If we execute this well, we see going-out becoming the third large B2C business emerging out of Zomato.”
The announcement follows Zomato’s recent financial success, as the company reported a significant increase in quarterly profit. Zomato’s consolidated net profit rose to 2.53 billion rupees in the April-June quarter, up from 20 million rupees in the same period the previous year, driven by strong demand for its food and grocery delivery services.