Technology giant Google has made a grand entry in the Indian food services market. Google has now allowed users who search for restaurants via its search engine to directly “place an order” and “book a table,” an official Google India blog post revealed.
Google has partnered with popular food delivery services like Zomato and Swiggy for ordering, and with Dineout and Bytplus to make table reservations.
So, here is how it works!
The next time a user searches for a nearby restaurant on their phone (yes, it is not available for desktops as of yet!), he will be given an option to “Place an order” alongside the search results. Clicking on the option will take the user to Zomato or Swiggy to order the items from the menu displayed. Essentially, users will now be able to order food in just one click!
Google has said that this is just the beginning, and more features will be rolled out and more partners will be added to expand this initiative and improve the experience.
Google In; What Now?
The initiative may have dangerous ramifications for the left-out businesses such as Foodpanda. Foodpanda is an online food ordering service – biggest in India – which allows users to place orders via its app and relies on the order commissions for its revenues. It has consolidated the industry by acquiring TinyOwl and JustEat. The fact that Google has ignored the market leader now implies that the future partnership chances are slim as well.
The food services industry had initially seen a burst of similar businesses, offering huge discounts to customers in order to grab a larger market share. These businesses were fueled by angel investments, but their stay was short-lived. Even the biggest names such as Zomato and Foodpanda have been cutting down on their workforce as it faces a challenging market. Investors are also cautiously watching the sector, and have become a little hesitant in increasing their stakes.
