SUMMARY
- Zomato has unveiled a new feature titled ‘Book Now, Sell Anytime’ in anticipation of the launch of its ticketing app ‘District’.
- The company has set a reselling limit for the number of tickets per individual and a limit for ticket reselling price.
- The company aims to prevent any unethical practices within the events industry.
Zomato has unveiled a new feature titled ‘Book Now, Sell Anytime’ in anticipation of the launch of its ticketing app ‘District’. This innovative feature is set to be introduced on the application on September 30, commencing with the ‘Zomato Feeding India Concert’.
This function enables customers who have purchased tickets for live events through the Zomato app to sell their tickets at a price that is either lower or higher than the original purchase price.
Zomato has implemented a cap on the number of tickets a customer can sell at any given time, limiting it to a maximum of 10 tickets per individual. Additionally, the resale price for these tickets is capped at twice the current phase price on the Zomato app. In case the tickets for the event are fully sold out, the cap will be adjusted to twice the final phase price.
For instance, the company has stated that if a customer had purchased a ticket at the initial bid price of Rs 1,000, they would be able to resell it for a maximum of Rs 4,000, based on the live price of Rs 2,000.
Zomato has expressed its hope that this feature will be utilized responsibly by its genuine customers. The company also aims to prevent any unethical practices within the events industry, such as the promotion of black market ticket sales or unfair pricing.
The foodtech major confirmed that it will persist in expanding and improvising the initiative as it progresses, by adding, “This is surely not how this feature will look in a few months/years from now, so it is important for the industry to talk to us with the spirit of “we are all part of the same team.”
This announcement coincides with Zomato’s pre-sale for its annual ‘Zomato Feeding India Concert’, which is scheduled to feature American music artist Dua Lipa on November 30, in Mumbai.
Zomato’s founder and CEO, Deepinder Goyal stated through a tweet that the company has registered 300,000 individuals on the ‘notify me when tickets open up’ feature for the ‘Zomato Feeding India Concert’.
The company made the pre-sale for the concert live for HSBC card holders today. Goyal took to X to post, “…We’ve now got you covered in case your plans change after purchasing the tickets. Customers can now sell their purchased tickets anytime on the Zomato app! We’ve introduced a first-of-its-kind, ‘Book Now, Sell Anytime’ feature in India to enhance customer experience and support the live ticketing industry.”
However, the launch of this reselling feature has not been universally welcomed. Several social media users have expressed concerns that it may facilitate the promotion of black market ticket sales.
Zomato’s reselling feature is expected to be introduced in the lead-up to the launch of its ‘District’ application. Approximately a week prior to this announcement, Zomato announced its acquisition of Paytm’s movie and events ticketing business for a sum of Rs 2,048 crore in a cash-only deal. The acquisition is anticipated to be finalized within the current fiscal quarter (Q2 FY25), subject to the satisfactory fulfillment of all closing conditions.
The aim behind this acquisition is to deepen Zomato’s presence in the burgeoning market for going-out experiences. During the announcement, Goyal highlighted Zomato’s objective to develop products and services that align with the evolving lifestyle of Indians, and the acquisition is seen as a step towards enhancing the company’s relevance to its customer base.
