That would obviously have been the first reaction of anybody who would see the name Eternal as a perfect misfit for a food delivery website. After all, who will order Biryani from an app called Eternal. When it comes to ordering food, you need whacky and spicy names like the existing leaders. Swiggy, Zomato, and Zepto fit the bill perfectly, but surely not Eternal by even a distant measure. Also, why would somebody like Zomato want to lose all the goodwill that they have built as an app over the last few years? 

The Zomato top management, and even Deepinder Goyal personally, clarified the same. The food delivery app will still be known as Zomato only. You will still download the Zomato app and not the Eternal app (thank God). However, what will change is the name of the holding company. It is a bit like Google still has its brand image as the Google Search Engine, but the parent holding company is now known as Alphabet. Over time, a brand name gets associated with some good things and some limiting factors too. At that point, such a name change helps to clearly distill the user attention. 

If you were to perform a quick survey of users on what the name Zomato does convey, what would be the replies? The obvious answer would be that Zomato conveys the image of speed. It will also be associated with 2 words; viz Food and Delivery. That is a very strong brand association and will not change all that easily. Brand is also something that gets reinforced each time you see the Zomato delivery boy. Now, Zomato is planning to diversify into expanding the Blinkit franchise, launching the District app (hyperlocal activities), focusing on the B2B HyperPure business, launching Bistro snacks, and moving towards zero emissions. Some of these goals are too corporate in nature and would fit in better with a neutral name that does not convey the perception of Zomato or Blinkit. Eternal is the holding company. 

Today few remember that Reliance had started off with Vimal textiles. Today, the generic name (connoting trust) does allow it to seamlessly straddle across businesses like oil, chemicals, retail, new energy, digital etc. That is the kind of an association that Zomato is working on. For the loyal users of Zomato and the Blinkit app, not much changes. For the company, from a corporate perspective, the name Eternal is not only a more neutral sounding holding company, but also connotes broader business mix!