Zomato Live gears up for strategic growth in new cities

livemint.com:

Mint, Zomato Live CEO Zeenah Vilcassim outlined the company's growth trajectory and its aim to make a substantial double-digit contribution to Zomato's topline within three years. Currently, Zomato Live contributes a single-digit percentage to Zomato's overall revenue. "If you look at the scale and the size of the business that we have with online ordering right now and BlinkIt, even a low double-digit is still huge as a business.

That's the goal that we're working towards, and we'll release some of those numbers as they come up," she said. Launched in 2018, Zomato Live initially focused on the Zomaland IP, a food carnival and music festival that has now expanded to eight cities. It has attracted around 200,000 customers with its holistic experience of food, entertainment, and music.

Vilcassim highlighted the synergy between Zomato Live and the core Zomato business, especially in leveraging search and discovery capabilities of the parent. The live events industry, which is booming post covid, is projected to hit $8 billion by 2028 from just under $5 billion today. Zomato Live aims to become India's leading live entertainment company, focusing on superior curation, customer experience, and operations, Vilcassim said.

“The opportunity here is really huge also because the consumer expectation, especially for live events, has increased massively in India. People are paying higher prices for ticketing, and they're expecting amazing production," the CEO said. The industry needs to evolve with that consumer mindset, she said, adding, "So when it comes to access to venues, restaurant partner areas, the best tech and developers in the country plus being a very, skilled operations company, it was a no-brainer almost that we should