After plenty of testing (internally and externally) since the last year; After remaining exclusively available for just the TATA Group employees until last week; After creating so much hype to set the stage for a grand launch amongst the (TATA) IPL; Finally! the TATA Neu (super) App is here!
***drumrolls***🥁
and my initial impressions are, “It’s Meh! 🙄”
If you still want to read ahead (Coz, Yes! I indeed wanted to write about it!), please do proceed!
What is Tata Neu (TO ME!)
If you want to know exactly what Tata Neu is, you can simply read TATA Digital’s official announcement because, 1) They have explained everything well; 2) I don’t want to go much into the specifics
But, what is Tata Neu to me? It is a repository of your Neu coins that you collect through purchases made at various TATA brands and even from the app. The coins can be redeemed in the app or even when shopping or buying some products from TATA brands! That’s it! Oh! it also routes you to respective TATA group websites to shop from within its app so that you can earn Neu Coins!
To summarize, you can earn NeuCoins from any TATA Brand and redeem them at any TATA Brand (if you have the same mobile no. registered!)
Coming to The (so-called ‘Super’) App
The onboarding experience made me seriously feel that the app experience would obviously be great, but no, it’s intimidating! In fact, I am still trying to make sense of things in Tata Neu! After a quick and smooth onboarding experience, you’re literally left out in the wild to figure out for yourself what and whee things actually are! So, let me help you a bit—
1. Home: It’s supposedly the main screen of the app to let you get started! At first glance, it seems all okay to see this screen at first, but start scrolling down, and you’ll realize it is flooded, making it very similar to the approach that Amazon and Flipkart use; which I hate; (but we just don’t care over there as we simply ignore all those banners and start searching for our product from the search bar due to its prominence which is not the case for Tata Neu!)
2. Tata Pay: This is the UPI section of the app. You can pay bills, do mobile recharges, Pay via Scanning QR codes, etc. Basically, all the necessary features which UPI apps usually offer!
(Note: You cannot take screenshots here)
3. NeuPass: This seems a Work in progress, tbh; This section shows you all your NeuCoins and also your badges/privilege’s status under various other TATA brands, which have their own rewards programmes. Again, there’s no indicator as to exactly what those tiers exactly mean! (You can find them dug deep inside the legal section of the app, though! 😒)
4. Offers: Shows you all offers clubbed in this one section, where you directly use them by clicking on any or bookmark them for using later!
5. Stories: This is (as per TATA) their digital magazine where they plan to produce content in the form of articles and videos more of ultimately with a CTA (Call to Action) of availing some product on this app. Example, here is an article on “Best places to travel in April” with a “Book Flights” CTA in the end!
This section is reminiscent of those websites that also have a blog section revolving around their niche/expertise solely made for SEO purposes!😂
Give Tata Neu a Pass (Hehe! Pun intended!):
To the TATA group fan club— No need to get offended please; even I love the brand as the name itself ‘credibility vibes’. But, honestly, in its current shape it’s not upto the mark as of now, primarily due to the following reasons-
1. Browser in Disguise:
I have heavily criticized Amazon’s app earlier for this mischief and won’t forgive Tata Neu too!
The app, as such, doesn’t have its own UI. To buy a product, Tata Neu redirects you to respective websites (while staying inside the app to complete your purchases). The app sends its’ identifier to the destination website in the URL so that you can earn your NeuCoins. Nevertheless, it is a web-browser in disguise; Tata Neu needs to seriously take cues from CRED here, even they offer buying products using Cred coins, but it’s all inside their app with CRED’s own UX making users feel at home! Tata Neu doesn’t make users ‘feel at home’ which is of utmost importance!
2. Inconsistent Checkout Workflow
Above I mentioned redirection to respective TATA brand websites, but there is one section where TATA offers its own in-app checkout journey! This is applicable only for items in the “NeuPass super savers” section. Have a look below 👇
You earn Neu Coins shopping from here and also can redeem your earned Neu Coins. I then don’t understand why redirection to, say, Croma’s website is required to purchase electronics!? This is indeed inconsistent!
3. No UPI option to pay in-app
Lol… this one is funny and ironic too!😂. Tata Neu has a section called “Tata Pay” for UPI transactions. But, when you purchase something from that “NeuPass super savers section” I mentioned in previous para, there is no UPI option! 😂 This is the ‘testing’ that the folks at TATA have been doing since the last 2 years? 🙄 (the app does not allow screenshots in ‘Tata Pay’ section!)
Hype Result = Fail
I understand that it’s TATA first foray into this ‘sector’; but given the hype that was created all the time. I seriously think Tata Neu has fallen flat and hasn’t lived up to the hype! Internal reasons could be anything there— pressure for project completion; meeting deployment targets, inadequate design and workflow testing, first time! But this is what it is! As it seems, this is a pretty sluggish start to TATA’s super-app ambitions!
I’ll make sure to keep this article updated of any new developments and fixes that this app might come out with! For now, See you around!👋
You can download Tata Neu for free on android and iOS. As always, download links in the end!
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