Premiumization Call: Predicting Subscription Models in Indian Consumer Platforms

While researching Indian consumer platforms, Nishanth observed a pattern in how Indian companies typically move through monetization stages. He noticed that delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato had started with delivery fees, then added platform fees, and were building a user base that was habituated to the product but not yet paying for premium access.

He formed a view that these platforms would move toward subscription models, offering benefits like faster delivery and fee waivers to a segment of high-value users. His reasoning was grounded in a broader pattern he had observed across Indian consumer businesses: companies in large addressable markets tend to layer a premium tier on top of their mass offering to capture higher-value customers and increase average order value.

He wrote about this thesis in Decode Valuation, arguing that premiumization was a structural trend in Indian consumer platforms, not a one-off product decision. He framed it as a monetization evolution that would benefit companies by improving unit economics on their most engaged users while maintaining the mass-market base.

The call was subsequently validated. Zomato launched Zomato Gold, Swiggy launched Swiggy One, and Zepto introduced its own membership model. Both Zomato and Swiggy have since reported meaningful revenue contributions from their subscription tiers.