Tata Neu to unveil improved app after clocking over one million sign-ups and downloads within days of launch

Tata chief N Chandrasekaran formally took over as the chairman of Tata Digital on April 13.

Tata Group's ambitious super app Tata Neu has seen over one million sign-ups, people familiar with the matter told Moneycontrol.

Sources say that the app, which debuted with much fanfare on April 7, has also clocked more than a million downloads within 24-48 hours of the launch. Tata Neu's app listing on Google Play currently reflects that the app has crossed one million total installs mark.

Tata Neu is greatly benefiting from the marketing boost it is receiving from the ongoing Tata IPL 2022 tournament, for which it has secured the title sponsor rights.

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That said, several users complained about a range of issues on the launch day including app glitches, slow app loading speeds, and login issues among others. This is also evident by the significant amount of one-star reviews the app has received on both Google Play and App Store.

Moneycontrol has learnt from sources that the app was very glitchy on the first day since the rate at which people were entering the app was very high. However, things have stabilised over the weekend. Although, some of these issues still persist at the time of writing this article.

It's worth noting that Tata Group has been internally testing the app among the group employees for more than six months. The app itself has been in the works for several years.

Native app experience in the works

While the app features a sleek homepage design, several users have felt that the app functionality has been underwhelming so far, since it currently acts as a glorified webpage collection of various Tata brands at one place. There is no unified cart or unified orders page within the app, with each brand having its own order history page.

There is also a general lack of consistency in terms of user experience across the sub-apps, since it currently loads the brand web pages through an in-built browser. Even the results from the app's common search box are rendered through an in-app browser in different webpage formats.

Tata Digital is currently working on providing a native app experience in the upcoming versions of Tata Neu which should address some of these issues, sources tell Moneycontrol.

They say the entire game plan for Tata Neu is multi-brand retention, which essentially means retaining Tata customers across its family of brands and apps.

Tata Neu's simplified rewards programme NeuPass, which is likely the app's biggest draw at present, is also seeing huge traction, sources said. The programme brings various loyalty programmes across Tata Group's consumer brands under a single platform.

Members will earn 5 percent NeuCoins or more for every transaction through Tata Neu, which they can spend across all categories on the app (1 NeuCoin will be equal to Rs 1). One can also use the points accrued in any other loyalty programme from Tata's consumer brands, with the app also indicating their existing loyalty tier on the app.

Tata Neu is a key part of the 154-year-old Tata Group's plan to take on established giants such as Amazon, Walmart's Flipkart, and Jio Platforms amid the rapid growth in the consumer digital economy space in the country.

Tata's digital strategy is being spearheaded by Pratik Pal, CEO of Tata Digital for nearly three years, and a senior Tata Consultancy Services executive for 28 years prior, along with Cultfit co-founder Mukesh Bansal.

While Pal takes care of product, technology and backend operations, Bansal focuses on growth, new categories to get into and research, serving as the front end of the operation, sources said. The group's digital initiatives are being closely overseen by Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran.

Tata Digital is currently in talks to raise funds from external investors to scale up the super app and ascribe a separate value to it. The firm is eyeing a valuation of $20 billion and has begun early talks with investors, with an aim to double its gross merchandise value from $3 billion in March 2022 to $7 billion next year, as per sources and media reports.

Tata Sons recently infused Rs 5,882 crore into Tata Digital, the highest the conglomerate has invested in e-commerce in any single fiscal year.

Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.