A Twitter user recently ordered coffee through Zomato. Nothing unusual, right? Except that he placed the order from a Starbucks outlet, and got the coffee at nearly half the rate at which it was priced at Starbucks.
What happened?
On Tuesday, Sandeep Mall, whose Twitter profile identifies him as an entrepreneur, among other things, tweeted this: “Sitting at Starbucks – coffee for 400. Zomato deal for same coffee 190. Ordered Zomato with address of Starbucks. The Zomato guy picks up and gives me to my table at Starbucks. This business is out of course for me.”
How did others react?
Quite a few refused to believe him. Mall, therefore, posted a screenshot of the Zomato order. After this, a couple of users revealed they too had been doing the same thing.
{{/usCountry}}Quite a few refused to believe him. Mall, therefore, posted a screenshot of the Zomato order. After this, a couple of users revealed they too had been doing the same thing.
{{/usCountry}}Others wanted to know the Zomato delivery executive's reaction. Mall said the delivery boy knew people were doing this.
What next?
Neither Starbucks nor Zomato has reacted thus far. In a follow-up post on Friday, however, Mall called the original post a ‘useless tweet’ that became viral and got all the traction.
People, however, disagreed on his assertion that the tweet was ‘useless.’
Why was there such a huge price difference?
At Starbucks, even a typical coffee costs ₹300-400. On Zomato, however, if one is a member of ‘Gold’, they can avail the option of free delivery, as well as the discount coupons that are applicable to online orders.
Starbucks in India
The Seattle-headquartered American multinational coffee chain opened its first India outlet at the Elphinstone Building in Mumbai's Horniman Circle, on October 19, 2012. At present, it has presence in more than 36 cities, of which 14 were added to its network in 2022.
In India, the company operates its outlets through Tata Starbucks, a 50-50 joint venture with the Tata Group's Tata Consumer Products.