Zomato discount offers are not exactly honest, admits CEO Deepinder Goyal

Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal on The Ranveer Show (Ranveer Allahbadia/YouTube)

Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal has admitted something that customers have long complained about – that discount offers on the app are not exactly honest.

In a conversation with YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia on his podcast ‘The Ranveer Show’, Goyal was asked how Zomato managed to offer such big discounts to customers. “The discounts are not very big, they only appear so,” said a candid Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato.

He explained that Zomato runs offers like “50% off up to Rs 80” – which is not a discount of 50%, it’s only a discount of Rs 80. “If there’s an order for Rs 400, that’s only a 20% discount,” Goyal calculated.

He admitted that this manner of offering discounts is misleading customers and it’s something he wants to change. However, Zomato cannot change its strategy while its competition offers discounts in such an exaggerated manner, Goyal,40, said.

“I don’t call this discounting honest. Discounting should be honest. If you’re telling your customer something, it should be honest,” said the CEO of Zomato. “It should be 80 rupees off. It should not be 50% off up to Rs 80.”

“But if the competition continues doing this, I will not be able to change anything,” added Goyal.

Elsewhere during the 45-minute conversation on The Ranveer Show, he also spoke about his relationship with Sriharsha Majety, the co-founder and CEO of Swiggy. Despite being rivals in business, the two share a friendly relationship, Goyal said, adding that they avoid talking about business if they happen to meet somewhere.