Zepto
, the quick-commerce company, has introduced a
platform fee
of Rs 2 per order. The change, however, applies to a select set of users. It also collects a ‘
late night handling fee
’ of Rs 15 in certain cases on orders placed after 11 pm.
What is Platform fees
Platform fees is a charge that food delivery companies charge from all customers across orders. These charges are aimed at improving their bottomline.
Its competitors – Zomato’s Blinkit and
Swiggy Instamart
– levy a platform fee on food delivery orders, news agency IANS reported. They initially began by charging a fee of Rs 2 but increased it in some cases. The companies reportedly teased a significantly higher charge of Rs 10 during peak times,
Zepto also charges between Rs 5 and Rs 28 as delivery fee, depending on the cart value.
What the company has to say
The company stament indicates its staregy for achieving profitability goes beyond just relying on delivery fees.
“We do not believe in being over-dependent on delivery fees to be profitable. We believe in core operating efficiency and cost reduction to be profitable. We are on track to achieve the EBITDA positive milestone even with much lower delivery fees —
Zepto Pass
is the quintessential example of this,” a company spokesperson said.
Zepto is the only major player that operates a standalone quick-commerce business, and is the third-largest quick commerce player with a market share of about 20 percent, behind Zomato’s Blinkit (40 percent) and Swiggy Instamart (37-39 percent), analysts at Bernstein said in a report published in January.
Recently, Zepto launched the Zepto Pass loyalty programme through which it offers free deliveries and better discounts.
The membership is priced at Rs 299 per month and as an introductory offer, the company also offered the service for a month at prices as low as Rs 39 to some customers.
