The Tata Group this week finally launched the much talked about and awaited super app Tata Neu. It is a big step to bring many of its power brands together on one common consumer-focused platform.
The $103 billion Tata Group is a diverse conglomerate with interests from salt to software, tea, hotels, steel, apparel, aviation, automobiles and more. Over the last few years, individual companies have increased their online presence. But, there was hardly any interconnect.
Tata Neu bridges this gap, harnessing the strengths of individual brands like Big Basket, Croma, Westside, Starbucks, Taj Group of Hotels, Tata Cliq, Tata 1MG, Tata Capital, among others, to allow consumers to access them on one platform. Many of its other companies like Vistara, Air India, Titan Tanishq and Tata Motors will also be onboarded soon.
“Our aim is to make the lives of Indian consumers simpler and easier. The power of choice, a seamless experience, and loyalty will be at the centre of Tata Neu, delivering a powerful One Tata experience,” said N Chandrasekaran, the chairman of Tata Sons.
What binds the diverse brands together is rewards structure in the form of NeuCoins. Consumers transacting on the Tata Neu app, website or any brand stores and hotels will get these NeuCoins. These could be redeemed for future purchases. One NeuCoin wil be equal to one rupee and there are no limitations on how many of these one can earn and use.
Tata also plan to roll out an exclusive membership service NeuPass. Members will get minimum of 5 percent of additional NeuCoins everytime they shop on the app, and there will be more benefits, which are yet to be revealed.
Payments and financial services is also going to be a big focus for Tata on Tata Neu. So, one could pay bills, send money to friends using Tata Pay UPI, get personal loans, credit lines, custom insurance plans and more.
The superapp will give Tata Group a huge firepower in what is becoming an intensely competitive battleground. Billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned Amazon, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and Flipkart, which is owned by retail giant Walmart are also eyeing a bigger chunk of the consumer pie and have pumped in crores in the business over the past several years.
Platforms like Amazon and Flipkart also already offer multiple features like payments, money transfers, booking tickets, other than shopping of course. Vijay Shekhar Sharma-owned fintech giant Paytm too has over the years, transformed into a super app-like ecosystem, encompassing, payments, investments, ticket booking and shopping. These platforms have also tied up with commercial banks to offer services like co-branded credit cards and personal loans.
Reliance Jio too has huge ambitions in the superapp space through platforms like MyJio and JioMart. Reliance Retail’s network of over 12,000 stores and the thousands of Kirana stores that its partnering for JioMart give it a further edge.
What’s unique with Tata Neu is that it becomes a common consumer platform for all Tata companies.
“We have over a dozen category leading consumer brands ranging from electronics, fashion, travel, hospitality, groceries, pharmacy and financial services. We believe that with Tata Neu, we will create a highly differentiated consumer platform,” said Pratik Pal, CEO of Tata Digital.
The Tata brand name has for long commanded respect and credibility; it has been the lone Indian among the top 100 most valued brands globally. Not surprisingly then that the Tata Neu super app has seen a lot of consumer interest. It has seen more than 10 lakh downloads on the google play store alone so far. It began testing in October 2021, but was only opened to a general audience on April 7. In comparison, the apps of Amazon India, Flipkart and Paytm have had over 10 crore downloads each on the google play store.
On the first day of the launch for general public, there were complaints from users about things like log in issues as lakhs of new users tried to get through. Reviews since seem to be mixed. Many users said it was slow and had lags. A few have also talked of inconsistent user interface and slow search engine. But, there were also those who talked of great experience.
The opportunities are immense. It is estimated that India’s consumer digital economy will clock a 10 times growth to become a $800 billion market by 2030. According to consulting firm EY, consumer internet and e-commerce companies raised $38 billion in 2021, increasing from $8 billion in 2020.
Tata Sons too has reportedly injected over Rs 5,800 crore in Tata Digital, taking its total investments in the company last year to over Rs 11,800 crore. The task is cut out for Tata Group as it takes on the competition.
