Every year Muslims across the world celebrate Ramzan and the holy month brings loads of blessings with it. We notice a major shift in people’s lives and their daily routines. Starting from the limited work hour (in most cases) to daily commute, sleep schedules, shopping patterns and everything in between changes completely for one month. It’s interesting to see how everything bends right in front of you to make things easy and convenient (if only this could last a whole year).
But how does the month impact businesses in Pakistan? We clearly see a rise in the sales of roadside food items and beverages and an entire food industry sees a jump as the eating patterns and habits change. Despite our promises to avoid the roadside samosas and pakoras this month and lose a few inches, you know that’s not really going to happen. So what does the business look like for other sectors that people use frequently otherwise?
One name that comes to mind is Careem which offers a ride-hailing service that takes people from one place to another, a food delivery service, cannot stress enough how important that is, especially in Ramzan, a buy and sell service that lets you buy anything from anywhere in the city and get it delivered to your doorstep, also a very handy feature.
We reached out to them to get their customer and business trends and they were kind enough to collaborate with us and provide the fun trends:
Starting with the ride-hailing service:
In Karachi, the majority of the customers booked a ride to go to and from Clifton and nearby areas. Whereas in Lahore it was Johar town and in Islamabad, it was Satellite Town, Dhok Paracha
Jumping on to our favourite feature – food delivery service:
- The most popular restaurant during Ramzan was Hot N Spicy BBQ in Karachi. We know how much you love those tikkas and botis.
- The most popular food item that was ordered was Kebab rolls and Mayo Garlic rolls
- The most commonly ordered combo on Careem was a Subway Cricket deal which had a 6-inch sub and a drink in Lahore
- The most loved discount on the app was FOOD50 which was a flat 50% off on selected restaurants throughout the month
- Customers mostly ordered food for iftar around 5 pm to 6 pm and 10 pm to 12 am for a post taraweeh munching
- Most ordered items through Buy and Send after Iftar were tobacco and nicotine – we know the urge and we relate to it.
The act of giving in Ramzan
Well, we are talking about Ramzan so how do we not include the donations and rewards section in the app where people are most generous this time of the year. In the last year customers managed to donate more than $49,396`which is roughly about PKR 9.2 million. If you haven’t already found the list of the NGOs registered with Careem, here’s the list:
- Indus Hospital where you can sponsor medicines or patients
- NOWPDP where you can help a person with a disability
- WWF where you can donate to plant a tree
- SOS Children’s village where you can feed a child for 1 day
- The Citizens Foundation (TCF) where you can donate a book and teach a child for a day
- Shahid Afridi Foundation where you can donate to teach a child for a day
In addition to the customers’ generosity, the spirit of Ramzan was also reciprocated by Careem by announcing that they will match all the tips given to the Captains via the app so they would receive double the amount in the holy month and get an additional earning. The total tip that was given to the Captains was $400,000 in the entire region so after the match would be $800,000 which totals up to roughly about PKR 150 million.
Cover image via Careem