Ola to deliver diwali sweets in a day

Hyderabad: With Diwali close on the heels, Ola, India’s most popular cab-booking app has come up with an innovative solution for sending Diwali gifts to loved ones across the country. Just like booking a cab on the Ola app, users can now plan to deliver a standardized Diwali hamper to their friends and family in other cities straight from the app. Users can pre-plan the delivery by making a request between the 16th and 18th of October or can request an instant delivery in less than an hour between the 19th and 22nd October, all from the comfort of their Ola app!

Users can get the goodies and wishes delivered to their loved ones across 14 i.e. Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Pune, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Indore, Lucknow, Surat, Amritsar and Ludhiana.

The company has tied with trusted vendors across these cities for creating standardized Diwali hampers, which will include an assortment of high quality dry fruits and a greeting card that will cost Rs. 490 including delivery. Ola plans to use a combination of its available fleet as well as delivery partners to meet the high demand anticipated for this initiative.

Sudarshan Gangrade, Vice President – Marketing, Ola said, “Diwali is more than a festival in India and is a time when people come back home to their loved ones and family. This is also a time when people share diwali gifts and greetings. We, at Ola, recognize this and help enable it for our consumers with Ola Connects. You can share a token of your love with friends and family across 14 different cities right from you smartphone.

This initiative is indicative of the versatility of our app to adapt to consumer needs and engaging with users, beyond the obvious. As a company focused on the Indian market, we understand the local nuances and enable delight through the mobile app. This initiative which is available in 14 cities makes it a national initiative making it possible for users across the country to get a consistent experience through the Ola app in every city of its presence. We invite more and more people across the country to use our platform to send gifts to their loved ones!

How this works:

The feature is built on the backbone of Ola’s robust mobile app that saw a recent makeover with the prepaid wallet enabling cashless rides. To enable this delivery feature for Diwali, Ola’s mobile app will see a new addition ‘#Connects’ along with the existing cab categories Prime, Sedan and Mini. After selecting the category, a user can point the map to the recipient’s address (delivery address) and enter details of the recipient including name, mobile number and full address. The pre-booking will start from October 16 and will go on till October 18. During this period, customers can make an assured request for the goodies to be delivered to their friends on a preferred date (19th to 22nd Oct). Post October 19th till October 22nd, the entire process will be made real-time, enabling customers to send goodies as and when they have been ordered within an hour, akin to booking a cab in real time! The process of requesting a delivery remains the same.

The payment for the goodies shall be made via the Ola wallet. While the payment will be directly deducted from the Ola Money balance of the existing wallet users, the app will redirect new users to the recharge section before requesting a delivery. Users can recharge the wallet via debit / credit cards or net banking for a minimum amount of Rs. 490 for the delivery to be accepted.

The facility aims to bring about a cheer on the faces of all those who are away from their loved ones and want to send them a gift on the occasion of Diwali. While one can always plan and send a Diwali gift online, many a times the thought of sending a gift comes at the last moment. By then, it becomes too late to be able to plan the gift via traditional channels. Ola, via its app, makes this process real time where a customer can just go to the app, select the address and send the gift in just a few hours. All those within or outside India can send Diwali gifts using this feature.

This initiative is in conjunction with Ola’s Diwali offer of 100% cashback on Ola Money recharges on the Ola wallet. Ola will double the amount of money added to the wallet by users. For e.g. if a user recharges their Ola wallet for Rs. 1000, he will get an equal cash-back of Rs. 1000 from Ola, taking the overall credit to Rs. 2000. The offer is valid on a user’s first recharge until October 31, 2014, for any amount between Rs. 300 and Rs. 1000. The wallet will not only allow users to ride cashless, but also help them gift a ride or pre-pay for their loved ones!