Munch Zim redesigns its food delivery app and adds more services

I’ve used the Munch app once or twice but the user interface has always rubbed me the wrong way. It seems that’s something they knew (or maybe they didn’t) and after the most recent update – the application has seen a design overhaul.

The new design is much much cleaner than the old design – with a white backdrop and menus that are overall simpler to navigate.

• 

• 

Interestingly, outside of the food delivery and alcohol options which have always existed it seems Munch is diversifying its offering to deliver a lot more than just food!

There are 4 new tabs that I’ve seen in the redesigned application;

• Cosmetics
• Retail
• Pharmaceuticals
• Parcels

At the time of writing, only the cosmetics sections has a service provider to order from whilst the remaining new entries are still void of providers and only contain a label that reads “coming soon!”.

This is an interesting move by the company which was largely associated with food delivery. It seems that the company is now trying to fill the logistics gap in the eCommerce market by offering deliveries for a broader number of services.

Will the eCommerce push work?

Considering that COVID-19 has probably increased eCommerce adoption over the last few months this is probably as good a time as any for Munch to start broadening their logistics offering.

Munch which has been downloaded by thousands of Zimbos will not necessarily suffer from the same chicken and egg problem I believe will affect Hwindi. The ride-hailing startup recently announced they are transitioning from Ride-hailing to become a super app.

Hwindi’s problem is that they have few users to begin with and with the brand being considered a transport solution first, it is pretty difficult to attract consumers to the app at a time when people generally aren’t moving around. Without attracting consumers to the app – service providers have no incentive to come onboard.

Whilst Munch has comparable install numbers to Hwindi on the Google Play Store – the service they are known for (i.e food delivery) is very attractive to consumers right now. So consumers open the Munch app looking to order food but then discover there are now far more options and thus I think there is a significant incentive for service providers to sign up at this very moment.