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After diversifying its business into grocery and house essential deliveries, Zomato is now aiming to venture into alcohol delivery. According to report by Reuters, the food delivery company now wants to capitalize on high demand for alcohol amid nationwide lockdown.
Even in the past, when the demand for groceries and other house essentials went up owing to restriction on movement during the first phase of lockdown, Zomato in no time branched out its services into the segment.
With the recent opening of alcohol shops, which were shut since 25th March, a high demand was seen, as thousands queued up outside the stores across the country, which resulted in flouting of social distancing norms. In a bid to avoid unnecessary crowding many states introduced a “special corona fee” of 70% on top of retail alcohol prices, while Mumbai shut its liquor stores within two days of reopening them.
Given the situation, Zomato is now considering to enter the liquor delivery segment. Currently, there is no legal provision for home deliveries of alcohol in India. However, the industry body International Spirits and Wines Association of India (ISWAI) is lobbying to change this in conjunction with Zomato and others.
“We believe that a technology-enabled home delivery based solution can promote responsible consumption of alcohol,” Mohit Gupta, Zomato’s CEO for food delivery, wrote in a business proposal to ISWAI, which was cited in Reuters report. Besides, the report also highlighted that Zomato would target “areas that are relatively less affected by COVID-19,” Gupta wrote in the unpublished document, submitted to ISWAI in mid-April.
Commenting on this, ISWAI’s executive chairman Amrit Kiran Singh said states should allow alcohol deliveries to help boost state revenues hit by the lockdown.“The challenge is to ensure revenue from alcohol continues to be available,” he told Reuters. “…It is imperative they (states) reduce the load on the retail counter … by encouraging home delivery.”
India’s alcohol drinks market was worth almost $27.2 billion in 2018, according to the most recent figures from London-based research group IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.
