Ola Cabs changes its name to Ola Consumer

ABSTRACT

The new Ola Consumer will offer a range of consumer services that will make e-commerce more accessible, affordable and efficient, said Bhavish Aggarwal

Ola Consumer has also launched a lending platform, Ola Credit. Through this, Ola users can access cheap loans, Aggarwal said

To eliminate high indirect costs, the company also intends to double its cooperation with ONDC

While making lots of announcements Ola At the group’s annual event ‘Sankalp’, Ola Cabs CEO and Founder Bhavish Aggarwal announced the name change of Ola Cabs to Ola Consumer.

According to Aggarwal, the new version of Ola Consumer will offer a range of consumer services that will make e-commerce more accessible, affordable and efficient.

“At Ola Consumer, our goal is to provide every consumer with access to the best products and services without the barriers of traditional commerce. To achieve this, over the last six months, we have gone beyond mobile and empowered Ola Consumer with technology innovations, redefining commerce in India while delivering more value to our consumers through a fair and efficient ecosystem,” he said.

In his speech, Aggarwal said the company will address multiple consumer pain points through Ola Consumer. First, he announced the relaunch of ride-sharing service Ola Share. The service, which allows users to get cheaper rides by sharing them with others, will launch in Bengaluru today and will be scaled up gradually.

Ola said that as part of the service, deviations from the route will be limited to less than 20 minutes and a maximum of two people will be able to use a shared taxi.

The company also launched Ola Coin, a loyalty program in Bengaluru. Under this program, users who transact on the Ola platform will receive personalized loyalty benefits that can be used across Ola’s mobile, e-commerce and logistics services.

To eliminate high overheads, the company is looking to double down on its partnership with ONDC. “ONDC is the UPI moment for e-commerce in India. Ola is an early partner of ONDC and we will look to scale ONDC across India,” Aggarwal said.

The company claims that its food and grocery deliveries on ONDC crossed 40,000 orders per day in Bengaluru during the pilot in 2024. To further penetrate this segment, Ola Consumer will offer all ONDC vendors a year of free access to Krutrim Cloud, which is applicable to startups and SMEs, as per its fair usage policy. Additionally, D2C brands will also get a year of free access to Krutrim Cloud.

In the meantime, the company has also launched a lending platform, Ola Credit, through which Ola users can access low-cost loans, Aggarwal said. For this feature, the company has tied up with Tata Capital and Incred.

Additionally, the company also launched Ola Pay, which uses UPI in the Ola app to pay for rides, food, and groceries.

Aggarwal said Ola Consumer also intends to intensify its efforts to electrify last-mile logistics to reduce logistics costs by about 50%.

“With a consistent focus on sustainable mobility solutions and providing the backbone to ONDC’s business, Ola Consumer plans to drive cost synergies by electrifying delivery logistics and reducing logistics costs,” the company said in a statement.

Besides, with an aim to help brand discovery on Ola Consumer, the founder announced the launch of AI shopping copilot to personalize the shopping experience. Copilot is already available on the Ola app. The company said that copilot AI will help users connect with social media and other apps to create a more integrated digital shopping experience.

Aggarwal also unveiled Ola’s new innovation, fully automated dark stores and fulfillment centers under the Ola Consumer banner. He said the new dark stores, a prototype of which was showcased at the event, will aim to revolutionize the warehousing space that supercharges the retail supply chain.

“The company already has partnerships with several major FMCG and D2C brands including ITC, Marico and Bombay Shaving Company, which enables efficient and automated warehousing operations, streamlining logistics to reduce manual losses and high warehousing costs,” the statement read.

In addition to Ola Consumer, Ola Group also announced a number of new listings Krutrim Artificial Intelligence and Ola Electric.