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The service was shut down after only a year since its launch

India’s ride-hailing app company Ola today confirmed that it has closed down its food delivery service Ola Cafe and Ola Store, as stated by the company in its official blog.

“As we strengthen our focus on building mobility for a billion people, we are drawing these two experiments to a close and taking learnings from these to serve you better in the time to come,” according to the statement.

It also stated that the services will not be operating starting from this week.

The food and grocery delivery has always been dubbed as an ‘experiment’ that can be closed down anytime soon. Available only in top tier cities in India, Mint first reported last week of the possibility of closure, citing anonymous sources who claimed that the company is ‘struggling to build customer demands for the business’.

Also Read: Didi Kuaidi, Ola, Lyft and GrabTaxi form global ride-share partnership

Ola has always been perceived as the local version of Uber, with similarities in its service. Both companies recently added motorbikes taxi service in its portfolio.

The report that Ola failed to create strong customer demands confirmed the struggle that many Indian foodtech startups have been dealing with. Cultural factor had been attributed to this issue, with Indian customers viewing eating out as a recreational activity to be enjoyed together with families. Apart from that, the market had also began to saturate after gaining popularity among investors in the country .

Image Credit: Ola

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