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Unique innovations and technology have powered the online food delivery industry to grow at an impressive rate. Restaurants and food retailers have become accessible to customers like never before. A lot of this surge is owed to the rise of third-party delivery services, millennial preferences and modern delivery options.
According to Statista, revenue in the online food delivery segment is expected to grow at 7.5% annually resulting in a market volume of $182,327 million by 2024.
The two different delivery service solutions for prepared meals are restaurant-to-consumer and platform-to-consumer delivery. The number of users in the platform-to-consumer delivery segment is expected to reach 965.8m by 2024. Last year, over 60% of the users were between 25-44 years of age, 52% were men, and 41% were in the low-income group.
Online food delivery sales are estimated to grow up to $220 billion by 2023 due to the increasing number of delivery models – same-day delivery, same-hour delivery, one-day delivery, robotic warehouse delivery, delivery using drones, and so on. Innovation in delivery also leads to more orders per customer.
Understanding the target audience is the number one business rule and millennials are the most active online users of online food delivery models. They have the spending capacity, access to smart technology, and a fast-paced lifestyle making them the priority audience. Leveraging the power of social media to attract millennials is another trend that top brands swear by. Order using smartwatches, virtual assistants, or by tweet – are common these days because they make life easy and work like a charm.
With third-party handling, a large part of the delivery, restaurant owners, and food providers have turned to data analysis for a better understanding of their operations. It has been found that 52%-53% of users prefer high-quality products or fresh products. Fast delivery and cheaper price account for over 40% of consideration while ordering food online. The number of food delivery users is higher in Europe than in the US.
The favourable forecast of the food ordering and delivery platform has resulted in the concept of cloud kitchens or dark kitchens. The expected value of the global cloud kitchen market by 2026 is $2.63 billion. With massive reductions in operational costs, cloud kitchens have proved to be a profitable investment and a revolution in the food delivery industry.
Food start-ups and food operators cannot miss this opportunity to increase their profit margins and customer reach. By cashing in on the convenience that customers are looking for, using modern technology to innovate, and staying on top of trends in the food delivery industry, food businesses can take this lucrative niche to build a sustainable revenue-generating model. The growing clout of this industry is apparent when you see the performance of companies like UberEats that have massively grown over the years. This shows that huge amounts of money have been pumped into this sector and clearly, the market believes that there is potential for rapid growth. The future definitely seems to skyrocket, if only the players can deliver on that belief.
