India’s Tata Group has launched a super app that will be a one-stop platform to order everything from groceries to hotels to airline tickets and medicine.
The salt-to-software conglomerate has included all its consumer-facing businesses on Tata Neu and hopes to compete with Amazon and the Walmart-owned Flipkart. The app takes off with a customer base of 120 million and 2,500 offline stores.
In his LinkedIn post, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said: “It is a Neu day today! Tata Digital, the youngest member of the Tata family, brings you Tata Neu today.” He claimed Tata Neu will combine the company’s traditional consumer-first approach with the modern ethos of technology.
He claimed Tata brands such as Air Asia, BigBasket, Croma, IHCL, Qmin, Starbucks, Tata 1Mg, Tata CLiQ, Tata Play and Westside are already on the Tata Neu platform, and Vistara, Air India, Titan, Tanishq and Tata Motors will soon join.
Chandrasekaran said the aim of the platform was to make the lives of Indian consumers simpler and easier. “The power of choice, a seamless experience and loyalty will be at the center of Tata Neu, delivering a powerful Tata experience to Indian consumers.”
Tata Group has been testing the app for more than one year to tap the fast-growing e-commerce space. In the build-up, the conglomerate also acquired a host of e-commerce companies.
These include a majority stake in online grocery seller BigBasket, followed by investments in fitness platform Curefit Healthcare and online healthcare marketplace 1MG Technologies.
On the day of the launch, Tata Neu was offering many deals and discounts. It was offering an 80% discount on health care products, 50% for hotel stays and 60% off on electronic items.
BigBasket was running the biggest sale of the season with up to 50% off. It was also offering a multi-category loyalty program that would work across categories available on the platform.
The conglomerate’s launch of Tata Neu comes at a time when e-commerce has grown exponentially in India, with the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating online purchases. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation, the Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow to US$111.40 billion by 2025, from $46.2 billion in 2020. By 2030, it is expected to reach $350 billion.
The online grocery space is already seeing stiff competition with Tata’s newly-acquired BigBasket squaring up with Amazon, Flipkart and Reliance Industry’s e-commerce app JioMart.