Zomato seems to have opened up its subscription service, Zomato Gold, to all users; contradicting the company's originally announced plans to offer the service only via an invite-only model. On April 20, Zomato’s founder Deepinder Goyal announced that Zomato Gold, will become available by invite only following one last open flash-sale on 27th April. Two months later, the product is again open to every Zomato user — the invite-only announcement doesn't seem to have panned out. In a statement to MediaNama, Zomato spokesperson Naina Sahni claimed that the company reversed its decision after “receiving feedback” from partner restaurants that subscriptions for Zomato Gold should remain open to everyone who has Zomato installed on their phones. The company said meetings were conducted with partners after the announcement (and the subsequent flash sale). “Post closing the direct sales in the end of April,” said Sahni, “the one common theme/feedback was that all partners wanted more Gold members to visit their restaurants” she added. Sales tactic? Zomato’s backtracking on a major announcement for a highly successful product could be an effort to further drive sales. The announcement incentivised regular users to rush to subscribe to Zomato Gold by making the invite only announcement. “We realised we had been conservative in closing our memberships to public earlier, as we did not want to overwhelm our restaurant partners,” Sahni told MediaNama, “but after this feedback, we were confident of being on the right path.” Until approached by MediaNama, Zomato was completely silent on its reversal.…
