A strong comeback by food delivery apps as the order value jumps

Nov, 2020 - By WMR

Increase in the order value has recovered the order volumes for the food delivery apps, which eventually made a comeback in their sales by 60-65%.

The pandemic has affected the whole world in such a short time. As a result of this, the situation has become critical in every sector.

During lockdown in April 2020, there was a significant dip in the food delivery orders which was less than 300,000 per day. People were encouraged to do work from home and also the operations of food stores were limited. As many people were unaware of the hygienic conditions and preventive measures taken by various restaurants. In this period many people preferred to cook and eat at home and not order for home delivery which decreased the demand severely.

However, by mid-July the platforms started giving huge discounts on every food delivery app as they understood the change in the behavior of people. The consumers started ordering from popular food delivery apps as they ensured proper hygiene and taking proper preventive measure during delivery. Since then there is an overall increase in the order volume. The overall sales of food delivery apps bounced back by 60-65% as the customer’s expenditure was over 20-25% per take away. This significant growth was seen due to the promotions and discount which Swiggy and Zomato made. The rise was observed as the families were working from home and bulk orders were made. The average order value of food delivery apps was Rs. 320 pre-COVID-19 and since then it has increased to Rs. 420. Many premium restaurants and hotels which only had dine-in facilities are now contributing to Zomato.

Zomato sales bounced back by 60-65% of pre-COVID-19 levels and Swiggy hits 70% of pre-COVID-19 levels. Some of the cities have already recovered 70-80% sales. During this period around 100 premium hotels and restaurants have partnered with food delivery platforms.

Smaller cities have recovered well as compared to metro as many people have moved back to their hometown, which indeed has increased the demand in smaller cities.