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Eternal Ltd, the parent company of Zomato, on Wednesday said customer retention has remained strong despite aggressive pricing by competitors, while the impact of emerging food delivery platforms Toing and Ownly on its business has been limited.
Speaking during the company's first quarter earnings update, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Akshant Goyal said customer retention remains the most critical indicator of how the company is performing against competition. "The most critical signal of how we're doing against competition is customer retention. If customers are staying and spending more despite aggressive pricing from competitors, the business is working," Goyal said. He shared data showing that Q4 retention, measured as the percentage of customers placing at least one order in the fourth quarter after acquisition, stood at an average of 46 per cent across all cohorts, with every successive cohort improving. The most recent cohort (Q1FY26) recorded 50 per cent retention. According to the company, customer retention improves further over time, with Q8 retention at 48 per cent and Q12 retention at 49 per cent on average across all cohorts. The most recent cohorts that have completed Q8 and Q12 recorded 52 per cent retention in both periods. The company also highlighted growth in customer spending over time. Goyal said Net Order Value (NOV) retention continues to compound, reaching 150 per cent in Q4, 215 per cent in Q8 and 279 per cent in Q12 on average across all cohorts. "In other words, a cohort of customers is spending nearly 3x with us three years after acquisition than they did in their first quarter," he said. Commenting on competition, Eternal Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said the impact of Toing and Ownly on the company's business has been limited so far. "The impact has been limited. These platforms are offering the same restaurants, similar or longer delivery times, and lower menu prices funded by lower commissions and delivery fee - making the revenue gap even more unsustainable. There's no new use case being unlocked here," he said. Deepinder Goyal added that customer traction on these platforms is driven primarily by pricing. "The customer traction is purely price-driven, and price-driven traction without structural economics tends to resolve itself," he said. For the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Eternal reported consolidated revenue of Rs 20,211 crore, up 17 per cent from Rs 17,292 crore recorded in Q4FY26. On a year-on-year basis, revenue more than doubled from Rs 7,167 crore. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 92 crore for the first quarter of FY27. The shares of Eternal closed on Wednesday at Rs 289/share with a surge of more than 1 per cent. (ANI)
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