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|In: AppReview|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

A couple of years back, owning a car was considered a luxury and a distant dream for many of us but now the car has become a commodity! The rise in disposable personal income, higher aspirations of working middle class, easy access to loans and growth of the on-demand economy are some of the factors that have led to increased demand for cars in India.

As per a report from the Indian Brand Equity Foundation, sales of passenger vehicles increased by 16.7% to 258,000 units in August 2016 driven by better-than-expected monsoon and strong buying sentiment. Sales of commercial vehicles grew by 1.53 per cent to 52,996 units [Source]. These staggering figures definitely indicate that the auto industry in India is one of the largest in the world!

Image Source – Auto Market in India

Ever changing automobile market landscape

The automobile industry landscape is changing at a rapid pace and the shared mobility torch-bearers namely Uber, Ola are driving force behind this change. A couple of months back, Ola signed a deal with Mahindra and as mentioned by Mr. Mahindra – The auto industry will grow but will it grow as much as it would have in the absence of car sharing, definitely not. That will certainly affect the potential of the market. In a country like this, starved of infrastructure with urban congestion, may be that is a very good environmental solution. People will buy cars when they want it as a sign of aspiration. Given the very low penetration, a car park of only 30 million here, there is a clear opportunity to grow both fleet market and individual buyers’ market [Source]

Even though there is a burgeoning growth of the automobile industry, the automobile repair and services industry continues to remain highly unorganized. India’s car servicing industry is slated to be a Rs 33,000-crore business by 2020, up from Rs 20,000 crore now [Source]. Since the car services market is highly fragmented, car owners have to depend on local garages for repair & service and most of the times the experience might not turn out to be pleasant. Local garages using bogus spares, delayed delivery, lack of customer service & orientation, incomplete repair works creates an overall bad customer experience. However, thanks to the increasing penetration of internet, car owners can now avail important car services at a click of a button. Startups like Fulltank are on a journey to organize the automobile repair services market by Providing an exceptional on-demand car repair and service at the doorstep.

Fulltank – Important car services available on a click

Fulltank is a car service provider currently operational in Bengaluru and Coimbatore. Whether your car broke down on a highway & you need assistance or you want to avail important services like a car wash, buying tyres, stepney change, etc. right from the comfort of your home, Fulltank would come to your rescue.

Unlike local garage shops, the spare parts used by Fulltank are 100% genuine. Their services are 24*7 available via their Android & iOS app. They also provide immediate assistance for any Break downs, Punctures, Fuel Out, Flat Tyre, Towing, etc. that happens all of a sudden in your vehicle.

Fulltank – Roadside Assistance, Chauffeurs, Car Insurance and more

Apart from being a handy companion in emergency situations, Fulltank also provides a gamut of services listed below:

Roadside Assistance – Be it fixing a puncture, towing a vehicle or replacing tyres, Fulltank provides all these services at the convenience of your fingertips. It charges a nominal fee for the service being provided. They have on-boarded verified mechanics who ensure that your car remains in awesome condition even after service!

Chauffeurs – Sitting in a car becomes an experience only if the steering is controlled by the right person. In order to provide an exceptional experience, FullTank offers chauffeurs rental service. The chauffeurs present on their platform possess good competency and clean driving record.

Maintenance Services – They provide comprehensive maintenance services such as scheduled 10000 km, 20000 km, oil change, etc. Fulltank also assists its customers with car insurance, car service, car wash as well as repair.

In a nutshell, Fulltank has a range of services built for well-being of your car

Fulltank – Mobile app for your car service needs

As mentioned earlier, the Fulltank app is available on Android as well as iOS. The app has user-friendly interface and once you download the app, you need to enter the car details [like the brand, car number, engine type, etc.] in Fulltank. Availability of some of the services like tyre replacement, battery replacement, stepney change, etc. might vary across different car models.

To top it all, in order to delight it’s customers Fulltank would offer up to 71% off on car wash services with free pickup & drop once you complete the following survey. #BeaHero and join the fight against the industry villains by downloading the Fulltank app. If you have used services from Fulltank, please leave your feedback in the comments section.

As it is rightly said by Alexandra Paul

The cars we drive says a lot about us

|In: Galijob|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

The ‘On-Demand economy’ has definitely been a game changer in today’s fast paced environment and it is here to stay! Online medium is no longer restricted to shopping, mobile recharge, travel, etc. but it has many more dimensions. In fact, it acts an effective medium to reduce the demand-supply gap.

Image Credit – Blue Collar Worker

Blue Collar Recruitment : Bridging demand-supply gap

For skilled jobs, portals like Elance, Fiverr, etc. act as marketplaces that help to fill the Demand -Supply gap but Unskilled/Semi-skilled workers (blue-collar workers) like drivers, cooks, cleaners, delivery boys, etc. have to still rely on their acquaintances when they are looking out for a job. If they do not have any reference, they need to rely on agents who take huge amount of commission from them. Though the blue-collar job market is highly unorganized, driven by the urbanization coupled with growing internet penetration, huge market size & fragmented demand-supply, many startups are solving the problem of connecting skilled low-skilled workers with potential employers.

Industry estimates put the demand for blue-collar and entry-level white-collar jobs at 20 crore a year, and the market at USD 15 billion [Source]. Apart from the demand-supply gap, a shorter lead time is also required to identify potential employee for an employer e.g. There is a huge demand for part-time delivery boys during the Big Billion Days, Amazon Great Indian Festival Sale,etc. and any delay in on-boarding or shortlisting potential candidates could have significant business impact [Source].

Though vertical job sites e.g. Quikr Jobs, Naukri,etc. are trying to solve this problem, there are startups solely focused to simplify Job search for blue-collar job seekers. Today, we have a look at Galijob [‘Gali’ means ‘Lane’ in Hindi] that can help potential job seekers find a job in 24 hours.

GaliJob – Job marketplace for entry level & blue-collar job seekers

Galijob is a mobile-first (and mobile-only) marketplace for entry level and blue-collar job seekers. It is loosely based on a tinder-like matching service where the job seeker can get a job in 24 hours and likewise the employer can get potential candidate in the same time period!

For job seekers – Job seekers can create a profile on Galijob at the tap of a button and apply for a job in minutes. In order to maintain the 24 hours promise, Galijob ensures that the candidate receives a response within that time frame else application gets withdrawn from the employer’s list of candidate profiles. They encourage employers to be proactive and adhere the 24 hour deadline which ensures they stay at the top of Galijob’s preferred list of employers & receive good ratings. Once the profile is shortlisted by an employer, the candidate can call/chat with the employer in order to get further details about the position.

For employers – Similar to a job seeker, an employer needs to just post his requirement along with the location on Galijob. Once the requirement is posted, he can check the list of potential candidates on the platform & arrange for the next steps of recruitment. Galijob encourages shortlisted candidates with a positive rating to turn up for interviews which ensures they are always at the top of rating table and receive call from many potential employers. The concept of Rating ensures transparency in the entire recruitment process!

While reviewing the app, we browsed through the list of candidates (as a guest and with location turned on) and the results were accurate (shown in ascending order of distance). Since messaging has become so prominent, Galijob also supports Chat where potential job seekers can have a one-to-one chat with employers on the platform.

To summarize, the key features of Galijob are free job listing, One-click apply, Hassle free process, transparent rating policy, advanced semantic search to find what you are looking for and secure chat.

GaliJob – App Review

The app is currently available on the Play Store and on installation it takes around 14 MB of storage. Memory footprint is very critical for an app that caters to a market segment that might have Android phones with less internal storage (and many of them might not be using an external SD Card).

Though the app supports 5 regional languages along with English, it still is not 100% regional since the job description still appears in English. Once the language is selected, user needs to categorize himself as Job Seeker or Employer. There is also a guest mode which is like a read-only mode. Profile creation as a job seeker/employer takes only few minutes and once profile creation is complete, a job candidate would be shown with relevant recommendations based on his expertise & area of residence. We tried couple of searches in Whitefield area and results were favourable though results might vary based on locality.

The design of the Galijob app is simple and creation of profile on the platform is very easy! For reviewing the app, we did a chat with couple of candidates and the chat worked without any issue. Job seekers & employers can also do a search filtered by pin-code which comes in very handy while selecting a candidate.

GaliJob – Team, Competition and more

Galijob is founded by Ajay Anandteertha & Saurabh Saha and their startup is mentored by DAIICT Incubation. In terms of competition, Galijob competes with the likes of Babajob, Aasaan Jobs that are also horizontal-marketplaces for blue-collar recruitment. There are also vertical job sites like Quikr jobs addressing the same problem. It is currently bootstrapped. Galijob is currently operational only in Bengaluru and has received recognition from the Karnataka government for their unique initiative.

Conclusion

Currently only 49 percent of Indians own mobile phones and the data penetration is only 21 percent. However reducing prices of data, wider adoption of 4G [particularly Jio] and the push for Digital India can result in wider smart-phone adoption. Galijob follows App-Only approach, a strategy which was not well received by the users of Flipkart and Myntra [Source], though the model of app-only market place for blue-collar recruitment is already proven by the likes of Cornerjob, JobToday.

Though there is a huge difference between app-only for e-commerce vis-a-vis app-only for job marketplace, only time can tell whether India is ready for an app-only mobile marketplace! If you are an employer looking to hire the best talent in your industry, do give Galijob a try and share your feedback in the comments section…

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Entertainment & Advertising landscape has drastically changed over a period of time and the major driving factors for this change are increasing smartphone penetration, reducing data rates and need for personalization. Though majority of the Indian households own televisions, watching TV has never been a personalized experience, one problem statement that is very well addressed by the Digital Medium.

Image Source – Digital Media

Digital Media – The rising star offering personalized experience

Various Over-The-Top (OTT) players namely YuppTV, Hulu, ErosNow, Hungama Play, Netflix, etc. have launched subscription based services. They follow the freemium, advertising based or Pay Per View (PPV) revenue models. As per a Cyber Media Report, when it comes to OTT Reliance Jio that offers number of app based services like Jio Play, Jio VOD, Jio Beats,etc. has the potential to be the largest OTT player in India [Source]

However, when it comes to personalized content and entertainment on the Go, Youtube is still the most favorable destination. The lethal combination of VoLTE [particularly Reliance Jio] and Youtube Offline is a great boon for consumers looking for personalized content! When it comes to made-for-digital content, The Viral Fever (TVF) and All India Bakchod (AIB) lead the pack, but they also made a shift from Youtube only policy with the TVF Play and AIB’s show on Hotstar, Star Plus, Star World.

Digital Media – Exponential user growth and increased ad spends

As stated in the The Future Now Streaming report by KPMG

Competition in the digital video space in India continues to intensify with everyone from the traditional media companies (TV broadcasters, TV content producers, film producers, etc.) to telcos to international Video on Demand (VoD) players to independent digital players vying a share of the surging online viewership. Competition continues to rise with no single platform gaining critical mass yet.

Image Source – Rise of On Demand Content

With the growing popularity of the medium, the digital advertising has seen the maximum growth of 38.2% over 2014. This is mainly attributed to the growing internet user base and useage was supplemented by increased spend allocation by marketers [Source]. Given the growing interest of the digital medium, lines have blurred between traditional medium [TV] and the connected platform [mobile, laptop, etc.] and many traditional media houses are trying to going an extra mile to ensure that their viewers/customers are provided a seamless experience.

Most of these OTT players follow the Freemium Model where they charge for curated Premium Content with the differentiating factor being exclusive/original content from content producers. Talking about media houses (and TV broadcasters), there has been growing interest from them – Star TV (and HBO) launched Hotstar, Viacom 18 Digital Ventures launched Voot with more players like ALT Digital (from Balaji Telefilms) expected to join the Digital Wave.

Few months back, Viacom 18 launched Voot where they do not only have original content but you can also catch up with your favourite shows while you are on the go! Today, we do a detailed review of Voot w.r.t features, design, content syndication,etc.

Voot – On Demand TV, Originals, Movies and more

Voot, a mobile first VOD platform is a part of the Viacom 18 Digital Ventures. If you are an avid TV watcher and follow programs on Colors Hindi, Nickelodeon, MTV, Colors Regional,etc. and missed watching them on TV, than Voot could come in handy as you can still catch your favourite programs on-the-go!

For the audience that has changed over a period of time and love watching digital-only-content, Voot has something to offer in the form of Voot Originals. Voot currently follows the advertising led model and they might explore freemium & subscription led models [Source].

Some of the salient features of Voot are below:

The first mobile video platform with a social engagement and recommendation feature – where you can send out customized shouts for every video you watch.

A personalized recommendation engine which is customized as per individual users’ likes and viewing history.

They have a seperate section for kids-Voot Kids where they have all the favourite kids programs like Motu Patlu, Chhota Bheem, Pokemon, Kung Fu Panda, Dora, SpongeBob, etc. Users can also set a security pin to ensure that kids only see what you want them to.

Voot has over 17,000 hours of exciting content for audiences with varying choices and preferences, covering Colors (Hindi), MTV, Nickelodeon, Viacom18 Motion Pictures and MTV Indies, Voot by Viacom18 offers the biggest TV Shows, Blockbuster Movies, your favorite Toons & Voot Originals

Voot is currently available on Play Store, iOS and web.

Voot-Content, Design, UX

Voot Picks-The app has a section called Voot Picks that fetches the best on-air TV shows and Voot original for the user. The content shown in this section is not as per the user’s browsing history (in Voot) and hence it is not unique for every Voot user. It would have been much better if content in Voot Picks was more personalized(something like Recommendations on Youtube)!

Language Options-Users of the app can select their preferred language-Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi once they create a profile on Voot. Hindi & English are selected by default since majority of the content on Voot caters to that audience. There is also a section called Voot International where users would be treated with their favourite international shows. It would be great that once the Viacom 18 team has more regional content than users can de-select Hindi from the language setting.

Data Usage-Users have the option to choose the preferred streaming method : Data Saving, High Quality and Auto. Even when you are watching your favourite show on Voot, you can change the streaming playback quality by simply swiping left on the player.

Though this setting comes in handy, an option to add ‘Profile’ e.g. Home Profile, WiFi profile, Data Profile, etc. where depending on the selected Profile, the Video Quality of the streamed content would change or user can just opt for High Quality Video when on WiFi. Also, instead of swiping left for options, a Settings option on the player (something similar to YouTube) could be better so that the learning curve is avoided.

Design & UX- The Voot app is overall well designed where different program options (like Voot Originals, Voot Regionals, Top picks,etc.) are organized in different tabs. Since most of the Voot users would prefer to catch on to their favourite TV Shows, hence that section is given more prominence (be it Big Boss, Madhubala, etc.) as compared to Voot Originals.

The app also has Social Engagement Feature where where you can send out customized shouts for every video you watch, for everyone to see.

Voot-Originals

The Originals section in the app has shows with actors like Swara Bhaskar, Vivan Bhatena,etc. though the addicts of Originals on internet would still prefer TVF, AIB, EIC, etc. However the quality of original content on Voot seems to improve with each new episode!

Conclusion

If you are an avid follower of content on Colors, MTV and other channels from Viacom18 than you have a very good reason to download the Voot App (Play Store, iOS and Web). With many major content producers and media companies like Star TV, Yashraj Films, ALT Balaji, etc. looking to take a share of the digital media pie, only the one with better content would lead the race! As it is rightly said Content is the King…

|In: AppReview|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Consider that you have made a plan to buy a new laptop and you are in the middle of chat a conversation with your friend seeking his/her suggestions. Great, you made a decision on the which laptop to buy, time to hop to another app (e-commerce app) that gives the best deal on the laptop, finish the transaction and come back to the chat to inform him/her about the purchase! This involves so hops between multiple apps i.e. Chat Window->Coupon App (in case there is a deal on the laptop)->Choose the right e-commerce platform, complete the transaction->Return back to the Chat. Though there are lot of startups that are working on the solving the Cross App Reach issue but you again the user needs to install that application on the phone!

There are lot of innovations happening in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Human Computer Interaction (HCI), etc. in mobiles as well as mobile apps i.e. apps are being made smarter by using AI. Though the keyboard on your phone is meant for typing, there is still a lot of intelligence/logic that can be built on top of the it since it is most used native application on the phone. Meet Xploree, the thinking keyboard from KeyPoint Technologies that can do much more than just typing! In this article, we review the Xploree Keyboard from KPT (The review was done by using Xploree keyboard for Android).

Image Credit – Xploree

Xploree : Where Intent meets Actions

Xploree was born out of an idea to use Language Intelligence as a unified playground for connecting brands & services to consumers. With Xploree, the keyboard can do much more than typing and your simple input interface is transformed to a smart personalized assistant to consumers. Xploree is a smart-thinking keyboard that uses AI, NLP that takes us beyond auto-corrections and word predictions hovering over high value, “in-the-moment” discoveries, when the user needs the most!

Xploree uses patent-pending technology that deciphers’s user’s intent and serves relevant recommendations. However, understanding user intent is a very difficult task due to language variability (diverse languages, varied chat vocabulary, etc.), unique short writing styles on mobile (sentences are never uniform and decoding them when emjois are used is even tougher), identifying buying v/s selling intent and matching it with exact discovery.

In order to solve the intent prediction requirement, the Xploree keyboard predicts user intent as they text, chat, etc. based on their current and past context. User context includes many attributes such as the text being typed, the app in use, user’s geo location, his/her previous chat history, language in use, user’s favourites (brands, categories, etc.) etc. Along with user intent prediction, it also does Sentiment Analysis (positive, negative or neutral) to present the user with the best Recommendations e.g. The options being presented to a user who is searching for Flowers would be different based on the chat context & history.

Thanks to Xploree, you need not leave the context of your current app since your demands are served right in the chat context!

Xploree : Design, Privacy, Discoveries, Language support and more

Design and Performance Impact – Though Xploree is a smart-keyboard that makes deal-discovery and content-discovery easy for the users (thereby minimizing the app context switch issue), it was required that it does not digress from the Core requirements of a good keyboard 🙂 and it does not disappoint. The keyboard retains the look & feel of a normal keyboard including minimal (and some festival specific) themes. You would not miss those simple themes and customizations that you see in the stock Google Keyboard. It is very light on Memory, CPU and Battery.

Privacy and Safety – Since Xploree’s engine does the entire intent & sentiment level processing on the client side i.e. user’s phone hence, it does not consume more battery. In fact, during our discussion with the Xploree team at the #XploreeBloggersMeet, it was confirmed that there is no user data sent to any server and user-privcay is of highest priority! Hence, users can be rest assured that there is no stalking on the phone 🙂

Presto : Personalized Recommendations – Xploree user is presented with intent based recommendations on discovery cards called Presto. Users have the flexibility to filter brands/products of interest so that discovery is more Personal & Customized.

Language Support – Xploree is available in 110 different languages Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Oriya, Malayalam, etc. including many international languages. The rise of the ‘new-lang’, along with proliferation of social media, has vastly impacted real-world social applications. This makes language variability more complex with mis-spelt words, short forms and ‘newbie’ lingos. Not to forget, short writing is also unique on mobile. Keeping these varied requirements in mind, Xploree supports typing in Hinglish, Tamlish, Banglish, Kanglish,etc. i.e. amalgamation of Engligh with other local language.

Emoticons, Stickers – Xploree keyboard has 1200+ emoticons and fun stickers that make conversations come alive. There are close to 50+ animated keyboard themes for download.

Apart from these features, it has all the regular features present in all keyboards:

1. Auto-correction and next word prediction
2. Adaption to user style of writing
3. New word addition and personalized dictionary
4. Easy language change on the keyboard in more than 110 options with a single swipe of the space bar

Xploree : Growing partner eco-system

For deal-discovery, Xploree has tie-ups with top e-tailers like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Zomato, etc. and content partners like AFP, etc., Coupon partners like Coupondunia, GrabOn, GroupOn, etc. You can have a look at some of the other partners here.

The in-app search in Xploree is powered by Yahoo. Frost & Sullivan recognized KeyPoint Technologies with the 2015 North American Mobile Marketing New Product Innovation Award for the product Xploree.

It is interesting to see that the Xploree team has taken the best learnings from their previous Keyboard App – Adaptxt Keyboard into Xploree and the result is a much leaner and effective keyboard in Xploree!

Xploree : Conclusion

Xploree is a keyboard app that does much more than typing and is intelligent due to it’s intent and sentiment analysis algorithms. Xploree could be the next big thing in Human-Mobile evolution. Your keyboard would no longer be just a lame app with no intelligence and thankfully it would no longer be the subject to such jokes 😀

Xploree is pushing boundaries in NLP to transform the ubiquotous smartphones into a marketplace for consumers and information (products, content and services) convergence. Xploree is a big step in AI that solves the problem of serving relevant discoveries on mobile devices.

Xploree Keyboard app is available on Play Store & can be downloaded from here 

|In: AppReview|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you are leaving your home for a different city (be it for work, studies, etc.) Apart from the accommodation, locality; people who are concerned about us would be worried about one important factor that keeps us going – Food 🙂 Don’t we all miss the home-cooked food when we are away! In fact, when you are at home (enjoying home cooked food); you would sometimes crave for hotel food/junk food, etc. However, at the end of the day Home Cooked food always has one ingredient that is missing in outside food – Taste and Affection (with which the food is made).

Food is a vast topic and so are the delicacies in India. In every state, every city and every home (in India), you would find that one Special Dish that you would have craved for 🙂 Each dish has its own unique identity. What if one of your neighbours has made her special dish for lunch , whereas the other neighbour has made another delicacy and you had the privilege of choosing either of them right from the comfort of your home/office! Connecting Foodie with the celebrated home-cook via Technology would be an ideal solution.

Now every home-cook or home-based cook can showcase their passion for cooking, Culinary delights and become a mini-entrepreneur with an enabler – Eat Social. There are many startups that are operating in the Home Cooked Food On the Cloud category (I would not term them as Food-Tech Startups), I got a first-hand experience about it on Eat Social when I ordered Dinner from its Android app when I was in North Bengaluru.

Below review is based on the overall experience with Eat Social and it covers aspects like App Review, TAT (Turnaround Time), Food Quality etc.

Let’s get started with the review…

Eat Social : Home Cooked Food On the Cloud

Eat Social is a social (hyper-local home food) platform where your neighbourhood Home Chefs will share their tasty healthy home cooked food with you. Cooked Food is one category in commerce where Delivery Time matters the most and hence, Eat Social restricts food delivery if your address is not within 5~7 km of the chef’s location.

The restriction of distance has a positive impact on Customer Retention & Customer Delight since you ensure that the customer gets Quality Home cooked food !!

Eat Social : In Depth Review

Eat Social app is currently available for Android and can be downloaded from here For users who are on non-Android platforms, Eat Social is accessible via Eat Social’s web app The app has functionalities for Foodie & Home-chef bundled into one i.e. there is no separate app for the seller.

Eat Social for Home Chef(s)

A passionate Home cook willing to register as a Chef on Eat Social has to create a profile, upload quality photographs of the dishes, available quantity & preferred timings (Lunch/Dinner/Treats). Food can be listed either as Veg/Non-Veg.

Though Veg/Non-Veg is a distinct category, it would have been better if there was a third category – Vegan

Eat Social : Food Experience

Similar to an e-commerce platform, where sellers are rated, Chef on Eat Social are rated based on his/her performance (which is closely tied to Food Quality, Delivery Time, Packaging, Customer Delight etc.). When we ordered the dinner, it was nicely packed and it arrived within the stipulated time. Delivery Time, Quality, Packaging, and Food Safety are the key KPI’s for the food business and Eat Social scored well in all those areas. The quality of the food was great and the quantity also adhered to the number mentioned in the description.

The UX of the Eat Social app is clean & minimal and a Foodie has to key-in his/her location & address and order food from your favourite Home-Chef based on the availability. There is a separate section named ‘TREATS’ where chefs can upload specialty dishes based on occasions (Onam, Diwali, Christmas etc.)

The overall experience with the Eat Social app was smooth and so was the end product (home cooked food that was not only packaged well but also had great taste). We loved the concept of Super Diner – Silver Spoon Premium Delivery Program (loosely modeled on Amazon Prime) where regular Foodie’s on Eat Social Platform need to pay Rs. 200 and they can enjoy free delivery for a month (there is no restriction on the number of orders placed on the platform). It is an interesting strategy to maintain ‘Customer Stickiness’. The app also has ‘Refer a Friend’ feature where you would be incentivized on the first order placed by your friend/contact on Eat Social given the condition that (s)he has used your Referral Code when installing the Eat Social App. Customer can opt for online payment (using PayUMoney) or Cash On Delivery (COD) while ordering food on Eat Social.

Whether your wife (if you are married :)) needs a break from her kitchen or you are a bachelor (craving to have delicious home-cooked food) or want to have home-cooked food for lunch/dinner at your office, Eat Social is the option for you!!

Eat Social : Scope for Improvement

No matter how good your product is there is always room for improvement. Below are some of the improvements that can make the entire ‘Eat Social’ experience more enriching:

1. Virtual Kitchen Tour : One factor that is very important in the ‘Food’ Category is ‘Hygiene’ and that can be the very first ‘Barrier’ in customer’s mind before (s)he takes the step to order food. ‘Virtual Kitchen Tour’ of the top-5 (or more) chefs could be very effective to convert these tentative foodies into compulsive foodies.

2. Customer Testimonials : Everyone enjoys having lip smacking food and it is very important to translate those emotions into customer endorsements. Effective Customer Testimonials helps build brand trust and acts as a medium to gather feedback (that can be used to improve the product). As mentioned in Boast io, A website with a hundred testimonials will generate more leads and close more sales than a website with no testimonials every time.

3. Eat Social App Distribution via SMS & QR Code  : Currently, users can download the Eat Social app from the Play Store, 9Apps Store (Direct) but there is a definite need to have a mobile app landing page for downloading the app. A common theme is the use of SMS (text messaging) to deliver the app download link to user’s mobile phone. There was no QR Code format (of the Eat Social App) which is an absolute necessity since it helps in customer acquisition and tracking app conversion rate.

4. Identification of next logical expansion : Foodies and Home chefs are the pillars of the Eat Social eco-system. Getting more Chef’s and Foodies on-board would be an on-going task for the Eat Social team, but it is important to capture footprint of visitors (on Eat Social) who are from places (in Bengaluru other than North Bengaluru).

A small Notify Me page where the user enters his/her pin-code can act as important data for their team to identify next logical expansion for Eat Social i.e. whether we need to expand to South Bengaluru/East Bengaluru/Only one specific locality in Bengaluru etc.

Eat Social : Closing Thoughts

The overall Eat Social experience was fantastic (effortless meal booking, hassle free online payment, on-time delivery and above all delicious food)!! The future of India would be shaped by entrepreneurs and Eat Social is a classic example of how food can act as a medium to empower women who can now take their cooking skills beyond their own kitchen and transform themselves into ‘Home Chefs’ or ‘Food Entrepreneurs’! Whether you are a bachelor missing home cooked food or a loving husband who wants to give his wife ‘Delightful Break’ :), Eat Social will come to your rescue.

Eat Social (for Android) can be downloaded from here, here. Non-Android users can visit Eat Social here. If you have used Eat Social before, please leave your experience/feedback in the comments section… 

|In: LastMinuteKeys|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Internet has become an integral part of consumer’s life and before online shopping became more mainstream, travel triggered the e-commerce boom in India. Companies like MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, Yatra are some of the prominent  players in the Online Travel Aggregator (OTA) segment. These companies are the pioneers in the Horizontal Travel Segment and are online travel agencies that enable customers booking of flight, hotels, tours, recreational activities etc. There are other players like OYO Rooms, WudStay, Treebo Hotels, Vista Rooms etc. that are a part of the Online Budget Segment and act as enablers for hotel discovery and rentals.

Credit to the rising internet penetration, the online hotel booking sector is rapidly growing and is set to become USD 1.8 bn in 2016. There is a significant headroom for growth in the sector, with the ease of access to information and details online propelling consumer confidence to book hotels online [Source*].

The Opportunity – Last minute hotel deals

Though the hospitality industry is growing at a burgeoning speed with new hotels being launched every month, global investments being made; there is still a huge imbalance in the demand-supply cycle. Due to excess supply of hotel rooms inventory, an average of 40% of hotel rooms are unsold in India.

As Budget accommodation is fastest growing segment in India, most of the Online Travel Aggregators are looking at grabbing a piece of the market share [Source*]. However, this also involves an overhead cost of property inspection, standardisation, training hotel staff etc. Hence, there is still lot of room for disruption in the last minute 3*, 4* & 5* hotel booking space, as there are no very few startups that service the needs of the millennial , SME & Corporate travellers. Be it business trip, personal trip; travel can be impulsive and customers would look out for last minute hotel deals.

This is where Mumbai based Last Minute Keys sensed an opportunity and wanted to provide a platform for travellers so that they do not loose out of ‘Deals’ for un-planned trips and for Hotels so that they can liquidate their inventory for today, tomorrow  and day after on a real time basis, which is not available with other OTA’s

Last Minute Keys has partnered with quality 3*, 4* & 5* hotels thus ensuring that there are low no overhead costs since these top-rated quality hotels already maintain high standards!

Let’s have look into Last Minute Keys’s differentiators, market size, funding plans etc.

Last Minute Keys – Presence and Key differentiators

As mentioned earlier, Last Minute Keys is dynamic platform for hotels to liquidate their inventory for today, tomorrow & day after on a real time basis. Customers can only do the booking three days prior to their travel and enjoy awesome savings on last minute booking.

Unlike the other last minute players in the market that have either integrated API’s of other online portals & have merely just positioned themselves as last minute players, Last Minute Keys have one on one contracts with each and every hotel that are listed listed on their platform.

Currently Last Minute Keys has tied up with more than 400 hotels in 12 cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Jaipur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Cochin & Goa) & plans to expand to 1000 hotels in over 25 cities in India in a short span of time.

Last Minute Keys – Key benefits for Hoteliers and Customers

Hoteliers: There is a huge demand-supply gap in the hospitality industry due to which at times there would be huge unsold inventory particularly in off seasons. Hotels would be open to offer rooms at a discounted rate in order to minimize losses by increasing the overall occupancy ratio.

Last Minute Keys offers the hotels a cutting edge extra-net platform, through which the hoteliers are able liquidate their last minute inventory dynamically based on supply & demand.

Customers: Last Minute Keys offers guaranteed lowest prices to their customers for last minute bookings (bookings over next 72 hours) as the platform only lists deals offered by hotels for their unsold inventory, which are the sold at rock bottom rates.

Hotel rooms are perishable in nature, hence any unsold rooms sold through the hotels on Last Minute Keys platform is additional revenue for them, customers on the other hand, land up getting a great deal at the last minute, hence making it a win-win situation for all.

Last Minute Keys – The team

Last Minute Keys team comprises of veterans that bring in tremendous experience from the Travel & Tourism Space and also have close knit relationships with hoteliers throughout India as well as International hotel chains. They have deep rooted understanding of the nitty-gritties of the hospitality industry.

Manoj Gursahani, Co-founder & CEO: He has over 3 decades of experience in the Travel & Hospitality segment and has a complete 360 degree understanding of how the dynamics of the Industry works including e-commerce, MICE segment etc. Read more about Manoj here

Mahesh Shirodkar, Co-founder: He is the Managing Director of Tamarind Global, one of the largest hotel room consolidators in India. Read more about Mahesh here

Naveen Varadharajan, Co-founder: He is spearheading and overseeing the technology innovations at Last Minute Keys. He also heads the InsatiableGroup and BOB Tech Solutions as Director & CEO. Read more about Naveen here

Last Minute Keys – Technology

It is a mobile-only travel marketplace and it is currently present on the Play Store. Customers can book a last minute discounted room in just a few taps on their mobile. The hotels present on their platform are hand-picked and have excellent ratings on TripAdvisor which is a seal of Quality Guaranteed.

In contrast to other online travel agencies and travel marketplace, prices displayed on Last Minute Keys are Final Prices (with no hidden charges).

Last Minute Keys – Marketing

The team at Last Minute Keys believes that a good product can speak for itself. They are relying on good customer reviews and ensuring that the customer gets an awesome stay at the best price! They are now marketing the product via Digital Media so that they can reach to potential customers.

Last Minute Keys – Funding

Last Minute Keys is currently self funded and is looking to raise funds for further expansion. Post funding, they plan to launch Last Minute Keys for B2B market segment. There is also a plan to have a Day Room Use & Night Room Use Tariffs integrated in all their platforms (existing & forthcoming)

As per Traxcn, USD 8 bn has been globally invested in online travel in 2015~16 with Horizontal and Accommodation being the top funded sectors [Source*]

Last Minute Keys – Scaling up and Customer Acquisition

Travellers can book hotel-rooms via the Last Minute Keys app. Since their potential partners are boutique and premium hotels, an iOS app would be a must-have for further customer acquisition.

There is a plan to cater to the B2B segment with the following offerings:

Travel agents: Last Minute Keys plans to offer web based platform to Travel agents, along with offering attractive commissions as a major chunk of hotel rooms are still sold through the travel agents. Hence, it is very critical to have a Travel agent facing platform as well in order to increase the conversion rates.

SME’s/Corporates: A tailor-made solution for HR’s of Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) as well as large corporates. Attractive loyalty programs would be a major playing factor in the corporate ‘Customer Segment’

In our opinion, since most of the SME’s & large Corporates manage their employees’ travel through their Travel Desk (or Corporate Travel Agencies), last minute Lead Generation for corporate travel agencies could also be a model to explore!

Last Minute Keys – Expansion Plans

Many of the impulsive travellers might require a stay only for a day, Last Minute Keys plans to introduce Day & Night use Room Tariff’s where customer can book a hotel room for minimum period of 10 hours (10 am~7 pm or 9 pm~8 am).

Other future plans are Tie-up with international last minute hotel players via API integrations. This would be a win-win situation for both the parties since international last minute deal companies can enter the Indian market & service their Indian customers whereas Last Minute Keys can expand its services to more than 300 cities worldwide! Selling last minute hotel deals on e-commerce websites is another area that is to be explored.

Since travel does not only involve stay, hence it is important to address all the touch-points that deal with unplanned & impulsive travellers. Hence, they also plan to tie-up with Taxi Aggregators in order to ease their journey.

Last Minute Keys – Competition

Better pricing strategy is definitely a key USP for Last Minute Keys. Though online travel sites like MakeMyTrip (via its Last minute deals), ClearTrip (via Quick keys), Yatra etc. also cater to the impulsive traveller but that is not their key area of focus.

The Last Minute Keys team consistently monitor rates & maintain rate comparative analysis with other OTA’s. At times they offer deals that are more than 50% cheaper than their competitors. There is definitely a huge rate advantage, since it gets great deals from hotels, as hotels sell their unsold inventory at rock bottom rates on their platform.

Last Minute Keys – Conclusion


Be it individuals or corporates, there is a definite need to cater to the impulsive travellers even though it is still in it’s nascent stage. With their B2B plan, Last Minute Keys has a clear winner in terms of addressing the requirements of the corporate travel segment.

Plan a little less, live a little more. Be spontaneous! Use Last Minute Keys