Forbes Asia - May 2018

MAY 2018 FORBES ASIA | 79

EATING-OUT APPS

platform; we build on existing popularity.”
he company was started in 2013 and launched its opera-
tions in hailand in 2014. It has been gaining a sizeable foothold
elsewhere in Southeast Asia and now books its largest number
of in-app reservations in Singapore. Last year it expanded into
four more markets—Malaysia, Hong Kong, India and the Philip-
pines—and Hong Kong already is its best market in terms of rev-
enue. It boasts 160 employees and is looking to expand further
in Southeast Asia, says the German-born Cluzel, 45.
Eatigo lists 50 to 100 new merchants monthly on each

market’s platform. With 3,000

merchants in its lineup, it serves

some one million diners each

month and has racked up 2.5 mil-

lion app downloads. But it isn’t

always easy to procure new mer-

chants. Not everyone under-

stands the concept of yield man-

agement, and some fear that

discounts will cheapen their

brand image. Luxury hotels may

know the importance of yield

management and so don’t have

this fear, but independent res-

taurants might need a longer ex-

planation, says Cluzel: “User ac-

quisition is a lot quicker than

restaurant acquisition for sure.”

he growing popularity of

Asia’s discount apps is part of a

larger trend—the proliferation of

applications that match suppli-

ers that have too much stock with

buyers seeking good deals, says

Professor Wong Poh Kam, senior

director at the National Univer-

sity of Singapore Entrepreneur-

ship Center. “he ubiquitous adoption of mobile phones is cre-

ating a suiciently large user base that makes matching more

eicient and renders bulk discounts unnecessary,” he says. He

adds that discount apps would beneit from real-time data an-

alytics that allow for a more dynamic adjustment of deal ofers

and location-speciic matching.

For now customers at he Entertainer, at least, “know what

to expect, how much they’re saving and when to redeem,” while

merchants get the value they need, says Benton. “It’s a win-win

situation for both sides.”

Bangkok’s Eatigo charges

eateries a fee for each diner

its app brings in.

F