After weeks of building, intensive testing, and rebuilding, our online ordering service – Zomato Order – is finally good to go. This signals our second significant add-on feature, following the rollout of Zomato Cashless earlier this year. Somewhere along the process of testing and rebuilding, and the hundreds of feedback emails we received, we realized we had to make a decision we were trying to put off for as long as possible – unbundling our apps.

Given that we’ve always focused on condensing tons of information into a ridiculously easy-to-use app, this might seem to be a departure from that mission. Quite the contrary. Here’s why we are doing what we are doing.

1. More focus = less clutter = better UX. Having two separate apps allows us to build lightweight apps that get straight to solving the problems you face. Actions that are core to the app experience can be given priority of position, and we aren’t forced into making real estate compromises. For example, tracking your Order Status in the Zomato restaurant finder app requires a few taps; on the Order app, it gets its own tab. This might be the first time we’ll be happier with shorter app session times 🙂
2. Independent release cycles = fewer updates. While they might be part of one complete dining flow, using Zomato to search for a place to eat, and using Zomato to order online are two independent use cases for our users. Baking the ordering feature into the restaurant finder app might seem like the convenient thing to do, but that means having to coincide release cycles for two effectively different products in one. Unbundling them allows us to devote attention to both apps independently, iterate quickly, and push updates for either one as required. It’ll also mean that the restaurant finder app isn’t weighed down by extra lines of code in markets where online ordering isn’t available yet.
3. Deep-linking = smoother app experience. As is the case with most unbundled apps that come to mind, the Zomato restaurant finder app and Zomato Order will be linked to one another. So if you’ve found a place you want to order from on the restaurant finder app, a single tap will take you to that restaurant on the Order app, and you can proceed to add items to your cart. Once done, a single tap will take you back to the restaurant finder app, so you can decide what to do for your next meal (obviously).

The downside for our foodies is that it’ll be an additional download, but that’s a one-time effort (and we’ll still be running lighter than other food ordering apps out there). Additional win for foodies on iOS: as and when there are more apps in the Zomato suite, they can all be downloaded as a bundle from the App Store.

In short, the long-term benefit of unbundling our apps seems to outweigh the short-term downside, and we think it’ll help make the process of using Zomato – whether it’s for search and discovery, or for ordering online – a simpler and smoother process for everyone.

Zomato Order is now available for download on the App Store and the Play Store.