“Stupid question why would users on ride hailing apps be high intent and on food delivery apps be medium intent”

Someone asked me the above on x dot com. Here is my response:

Yesterday I had to go to Koramangala. I don’t have a car. So I opened Namma and booked an auto. I could not decide to go two hours later in case I got a better deal than that time. I could not go to Marathalli because it was probably showing a cheaper ride. Yes, I could open Rapido if I saw the price on Namma being too high, or there were supply issues. But my destination will not change. My timing will not change. I cannot decide not to go if there is a higher price when it is busy.

Compare this with food. How many times have you decided not to order because you felt the price was too high and you were not getting good value for money. There is tiredness from making choices. Oh, I selected chai, but it does not meet the minimum order value, so now I need to add more items. Do I add a samosa? Maybe I don’t want to eat a samosa. Maybe I will skip snacks and then order dinner instead. I do not have any offers. I see some random packaging charge and now I feel the total is much higher than the menu price. Maybe I just went to the place myself yesterday, and the items are marked up 100%, and I feel I can write a tweet about food delivery being absolutely the worst model that does not serve anyone and get a few hundred likes instead. And so on.

From ride-hailing to food ordering to ordering a t-shirt that I don’t need, but if I get a good deal on the shopping websites I will buy, there is a range. If the purpose is strong, it is easier to get people to buy.

You can compare how many people actually buy from ride-hailing versus food delivery process (I can’t share both due to obvious reasons) versus shopping websites (2%) and realize how much purpose matters.