Sweet shops in Jaipur boycott Zomato over commissions, discounts

8:09 PM ETDeveloping

Health Desk

In Short: Sweet shops in Jaipur have indefinitely boycotted Zomato, citing unethical practices and lack of transparency.

The Samiti, which represents over 500 sweet shops in Jaipur, claims that Zomato has assured them of resolving these issues at a recent meeting. However, the stores have not received any response despite reaching out multiple times through letters and emails. Agarwal, a representative of the Samiti, noted that the stores collectively do a business of about Rs 50 lakh daily with just Zomato alone, highlighting the significance of the platform for their operations.

Zomato has not yet responded to the Indian Express's questionnaire, seeking time to address the concerns raised by the sweet shops. The boycott by the Samiti members highlights the growing tensions between food delivery platforms and small businesses, particularly in the context of the unique challenges faced by sweet shops in Jaipur.

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“Beyond this, there is pressure for discounts and advertising on their platforms, there are unjustified deductions; they also run schemes and give discounts without informing (the establishment). And the stores have to honour these discounts,” he said, decrying the “lack of transparency”.
The Samiti, established in 1942, said that Zomato had called a meeting last month where they had assured to resolve all the problems at the earliest.
Samiti’s president and proprietor of Rawat Misthan Bhandar (RMB), Rajendra Rawat, said they have reached out to Zomato multiple times through letter and mail but there has been no response.
The Samiti members say that they have requested Zomato to rationalise its commissions to a uniform percentage for sweets and related categories in the market, citing the unique pricing dynamics and intense competition faced by sweet shops in the city.
“The recent developments involving restaurant businesses in Bengaluru, followed by concerns and collective action now being reported to us directly by leading mithai businesses in Jaipur, indicate that these issues may no longer be restricted to an individual business or a particular city,” FSNM said through its Director General Firoz Naqvi.
“Over the past few weeks, we have also witnessed considerable discussion among FSNM members across the country regarding commissions and overall platform costs, discounts and promotional programmes, deductions and settlements, transparency, customer relationships and other commercial terms associated with food-delivery platforms,” it said.
Accusing Zomato of “unethical practices” and “lack of transparency”, major sweet shops in Jaipur have boycotted the platform “indefinitely” till their concerns are resolved.
The Samiti submitted a formal representation to Zomato via email, demanding a reduction in “unreasonable commissions” and request for a meeting but there was allegedly no acknowledgement.

Sources

The Indian Expresslink