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Tag: food delivery

  • Record numbers show Taiwan food-service sales decline

    Record numbers show Taiwan food-service sales decline

    Taiwan foodservice sales have slumped by 21 percent year on year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Ministry of Economic Affairs data revealed total F&B sales of NT$51.9 billion (US$1.73 billion) this year across the territory, the steepest decline since reporting on sales figures began in January 2000.

    A parallel survey of Taiwanese restaurant sales saw a 23-per-cent drop in sales early this month. Figures revealed a downward trend in Taiwan foodservice sales before the government introduced social-distancing measures, with venues serving Chinese cuisine the most strongly affected.

    Ministry deputy head of statistics Wang Shu-chuan said that full-month figures for April could see a similar drop of around NT$16 billion ($532.5 million).

    General retail sales for the first financial quarter this year dropped 0.6 percent from last year to NT$924.5 billion ($30.8 billion), with revenues for March hitting NT$290.6 billion ($9.7 billion), down 3.4 percent. At the same time, e-commerce operators saw sales rise 19.1 percent year on year to NT$81.1 billion ($2.7 billion) during the first quarter.

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  • Baeman accused of monopolistic behaviour as merger looms

    Baeman accused of monopolistic behaviour as merger looms

    The pending merger between South Korea’s number one food-delivery app Baedal Minjok (Baemin), and Yogiyo, the industry’s second-largest player, has fuelled widespread concerns about monopolistic market behavior.

    In particular, recent changes to Baemin’s fee system from a flat rate to a pre-payment method has sparked controversy, raising concerns over such a monopoly.

    Woowa Brothers, Baemin’s owner, has apologized for causing controversy over the “open service” fee system.

    “Woowa Brothers humbly accept the criticism that we introduced the new fee system without considering the difficult situation of the restaurant owners, hit by the Covid-19 outbreak,” management said in a statement.

    Starting this month, the delivery service will apply a 5.8 percent pre-payment fee to restaurants for food orders. The system is designed to replace the current monthly fixed amount system, which costs 88,000 won (US$71.90) per month.

    This will result in 5.8 percent of sales being taken by Baemin as commission from this month.

    However, small business owners say the changes are not for small businesses.

    According to the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise, stores with monthly sales of 1.55 million won (US$1267) or less are eligible for lower fees due to the new policy.

    Some self-employed people raised the issue, saying that the fees paid to Baemin are excessive compared to the past.

    Gyeonggi Province Gov Lee Jae-myeong openly criticized the company, citing “the tyranny of monopoly,” and targeting Baemin on his social media account.

    The controversy is continuing as politicians and consumer groups joined the campaign. A recent survey by Consumers Korea showed that 86.4 per cent of consumers oppose the merger of Baemin and Yogiyo.

    The survey also showed that Baemin accounts for 59.2 per cent of delivery apps, with Yogiyo another 35.6 per cent, suggesting a combined 94.8 per cent for the two companies post-merger.

    The biggest reason for the opposition to the merger was, “food prices and delivery fees rising due to the formation of an exclusive market,” cited by 82.9 percent of respondents.

    The decrease in incentives for business innovation or service improvement followed at 46.3 percent, reduction in consumer benefits such as coupons and events came in at 40.5 percent.

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  • Uber is concentrating on food-delivery, nudges its drivers to do the same

    Uber is concentrating on food-delivery, nudges its drivers to do the same

    Recently, ride-hailing drivers have been losing income as more people stay at home and less people travel due to the public health crisis. Uber has recently started concentrating more of its services on food delivery as demand for this is growing.

    Drivers in the US are encouraged to take on food delivery, even if they hadn’t participated in Uber Eats before. Last week, drivers were sent notifications with instructions on how to access the Delivery view on the app because of an increased demand for food-delivery services.

    In particular, Uber is witnessing a growing number of requests for food delivery in Seattle and San Francisco. According to Uber Eats’ vice president, Pierre-Dimitri, the coronavirus outbreak is starting to affect routines and the changes benefit the food delivery business, so drivers are encouraged to focus on it.

    In addition to that, Uber has been trying to mitigate the effect of the coronavirus on drivers and recently, Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, asked Uber’s drivers and delivery workers to be included in the coronavirus stimulus package, that would make people eligible to receive insurance and up to $1,200 direct deposit from the US government.

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  • Deliveroo to offer support for Hong Kong restaurant partners

    Deliveroo to offer support for Hong Kong restaurant partners

    Deliveroo has offered support for its Hong Kong restaurant partners as many of them are suffering from falling dine-in sales due to the coronavirus crisis.

    The company will reduce its commission rate for restaurant partners by 5 percent for a month, starting February 16, equivalent to a 15-20 percent discount in fees.

    In addition, the company will also offer a four-week payment delay strategy for its exclusive restaurant partners to ease their cash flow, the company said in a statement.

    “In our most recent survey and conversations with leaders of the F&B industry, we estimate in-store F&B retail sales to be down 30-50 percent year on year, with signs of further deterioration,” said Brian Lo, GM at Deliveroo Hong Kong.

    The company has urged its rivals in the food-delivery sector to provide support where they can.

    With approximately 6000 restaurant partners, Deliveroo has witnessed a significant escalation in the number of restaurants aiming to suspend trading or shut down. Its research suggests as many as one in 20 restaurants is considering closure.

    “As a stakeholder in the F&B industry and the leading food-delivery platform in the market, we want to play a part, however small, in supporting our restaurant partners and lend a helping hand to the industry in this time of need,” said Lo.

  • Australia’s food waste problem fueled by meal delivery services

    Australia’s food waste problem fueled by meal delivery services

    Australia’s food waste problem is getting worse, like meal delivery services fuel further waste.

    The nation’s total food waste bill is now $10.1 billion, up from $8.9 billion dollars in 2018, making it the highest in four years of data collected by the Rabobank Food Waste report.

    Australia is the fourth highest food waster in the world, with the average household now throwing away an average $1,026 worth of food per year, a 15 percent increase from $890 last year.

    Household waste makes up 34 percent of food waste nationally, with 31 percent from primary production and 25 percent from manufacturing.

    Glenn Wealands, head of Client Experience, Rabobank Australia said food waste is one of the most “significant challenges facing our nation and planet”.

    “As individuals, each and every one of us can and must make a difference. When we waste food, the ramifications go far beyond just dollars, impacting our planet and precious resources,” Wealands said.

    “We know from this research that more than three-quarters of us care about reducing food waste and are annoyed by it. However, it is alarming that less than three out of 10 of us recognize the impact our food waste has on the environment.”

    Rabobank said the main contributor to household waste was poor food prepared properly, leftovers going uneaten, buying too much and changing plans after shopping.

    Gen Z remains the most wasteful generation, binning $1,446 of the food they purchase every year, up $234 from 2018. While Baby Boomers remain the least wasteful of all Australians, throwing out only $498 of their food.

  • Meituan Scaling down Ella Supermarket Outlets

    Meituan Scaling down Ella Supermarket Outlets

    Chinese food-delivery website Meituan has closed three of its Ella Supermarkets in Jiangsu, almost halving its network of outlets.

    The business initiative, which sells fresh supermarket produce online for fast home delivery, has just four remaining locations in Beijing and Wuxi.

    The closures were reportedly put down to mismanagement, and stand in stark contrast to the company’s stated plans to open 20 outlets within last year.

    Its shortcomings are reflected by competing brands, however, with rival groups Yonghui Super Stores, 7Fresh and SuFresh also performing under par. Alibaba’s Hema offering is an exception with reportedly strong trading.

  • Swiggy India now opens Stores to deliver everyday needs

    Swiggy India now opens Stores to deliver everyday needs

    India’s food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy Tuesday said it has launched ‘Swiggy Stores’ moving beyond its core food delivery segment to provide access to consumers items across multiple categories. The company will deliver from these stores “in categories such as fruits and vegetables, kiranas and supermarkets, florists, baby care, health and supplements among others,” Swiggy said in a statement.

    With the launch of these stores, Swiggy wants to become the one-stop delivery app that enables access to every store in the city, it added.

    “Today’s announcement takes Swiggy to categories beyond food, where we hope to deliver the same level of delightful experiences to consumers for their everyday needs,” Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy said.

    It is the first milestone in Swiggy’s vision to elevate the quality of life for the urban consumer by offering unparalleled convenience, he added.

    Swiggy Stores will give its merchant-partners unmatched access to a combination of core assets to reach more existing and new customers, the statement said.

    For the delivery partners this will give them access to an additional avenue for income, it added.

    Founded in 2014, Swiggy currently connects consumers to over 60,000 restaurant partners across more than 80 cities.

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  • India’s Zomato to convert 40 pc of delivery fleet into power-assisted bikes in 2 years

    India’s Zomato to convert 40 pc of delivery fleet into power-assisted bikes in 2 years

    Online restaurant guide and food ordering firm Zomato Monday said it is planning to convert 40 percent of its delivery fleet into power-assisted bikes in two years. Currently, the company has over 5,000 cyclists operating across 12 cities in India, with the majority of the fleet being in Delhi-NCR, Zomato said in a statement. The company provides food delivery services in 150 cities across the country with a last-mile delivery fleet of 1.5 lakh partners, it added.

    “We are working closely with our vendor partners to raise the scale of e-cycle adoption and aim to convert 40 percent of our fleet to power-assisted bikes within the next two years,” Mohit Gupta, CEO – Food Delivery Business, Zomato said.

    The company aims to build a future that creates more tangible value and leaves a lesser carbon footprint, he added.

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  • Singapore Plum stops delivering food

    Singapore Plum stops delivering food

    Hong Kong food-delivery startup Plum has closed its Singapore operations. An email delivered to Plum’s customers read: “It is with great sorrow to announce that we are ceasing our operations in Singapore from 21st January. Plum would like to thank you for your past support and going on this wonderful journey with us. We would not have achieved what we had without you. Best wishes to the year ahead.”

    Plum’s Singapore operations lasted less than a year in a highly competitive market, which saw the exit of hawker food delivery service Fastbee several months ago. The firm’s entire Hong Kong staff were let go in November to “right size” operations.

    The market is set to get even more competitive this coming year as Grab and Go-Jek struggle for market share in the territory.

  • Apps race to attract customers with sweet deals

    Apps race to attract customers with sweet deals

    E-wallets, food-delivery and online shopping apps are offering a range of Tet (Lunar New Year Festival) promotions to widen their customer base. On January 21, e-wallet cashless payment platform MoMo experienced a temporary freeze of its network shortly after launching a promotion that gives customers a chance to receive gifts when using the app to send money.

    Shortly after the promotion was launched, MoMo recorded an additional 500,000 downloads and registrations of its app, forcing the platform to upgrade its capacity immediately.

    At the time of the freeze, MoMo reported a record of over 1 million customers who had logged on at the same time for a chance to receive something from MoMo’s pool of gifts worth over VND100 billion ($4.32 million).

    About 2 days later, ZaloPay, another e-payment platform also entered the race by encouraging users to make deposits, payments and money transfers to receive bonus points and redeem vouchers from a pool of VND10 billion ($431,995).

    The promotion heat has also spread to the food delivery industry, where Grab, the Singaporean-based ride hailing and food delivery app, has announced its expansion to an additional 12 provinces and cities, to make “food ordering easier during Tet“.

    Tet, or Lunar New Year Festival, will be celebrated from February 2-10 this year.

    Demi Yu, GrabFood regional director for Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines, revealed that the number of GrabFood orders increased has increased 25 times since it was launched in Vietnam last October.

    “With our extensive driver partner network, we’ve been able to lower average delivery time to 20 minutes in central Hanoi and HCMC, making us the fastest food delivery service in Vietnam,” she said.

    A survey published by Vietnamese market research firm GCOMM earlier this month showed that 99 percent of those surveyed said they used online food ordering services at least 2-3 times per month. 39 percent said they ordered through these apps 2-3 times a week.

    According to this survey, the 6 most popular apps are GrabFood, Foody, GoFood, Lala, Vietnammm and Lixi. However, because of the fierceness of competition, just a few days before the study was announced, Lala withdrew from the food delivery market to focus on providing software solutions to restaurants.

    “Demand for delivery is growing in Hanoi and HCMC. I think in the next 5 years, it will thrive in the 10 largest cities. There are about 100,000 delivery orders each day in HCMC and Hanoi combined, whereas there was virtually no demand for this service 3 years ago.

    The delivery market is now worth $500 million, but is expected to grow to $2 billion in 5 years,” said Luong Duy Hoai, founder of GHN, a courier service with over 7,000 staff.

    According to a recent report by South Korean commercial giant Lotte, the number of orders and visits by online shoppers rose by 80 percent and 200 percent respectively in 2018.

    Kim Kyou Sik, general director of Lotte.vn, the group’s online outlet, said: “Late 2019 will be a major battle for all e-commercial sites to establish market share. We aspire to become one of Vietnam’s top 4 e-commerce sites by the end of the year.”

    According to research by Nielsen Vietnam, with 53 percent of the population using the Internet, nearly 50 million numbers registered on smartphones, most online shoppers being from 25-29 years old, the e-commerce market in Vietnam is full of potential despite growing at 22 percent per year.

    The e-Conomy SEA 2018 report by Google and Singaporean investment firm Temasek also revealed that e-commerce, along with three other areas, namely online advertising, online travel and ride hailing dominate Vietnam’s Internet economy.

    In 2018, the Internet economy had an estimated total worth of $9 billion. Earlier this year, the two companies collaborated in a report which revealed that gross merchandise volume of Vietnam’s Internet economy amounted to 4 percent of its GDP.

  • Restaurant association questions deep discounts on Swiggy, Zomato

    Restaurant association questions deep discounts on Swiggy, Zomato

    The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Tuesday said it has raised concerns over deep discounting and data masking by food ordering and delivery startups such as Swiggy, Zomato and Ola’s Foodpanda. According to a report, The restaurants’ body said it flagged issues regarding misuse of dominant position, in a meeting with the app-based food ordering and delivery startups.

    “NRAI delivery task force had its first meeting with Swiggy, Zomato, Uber Eats and Foodpanda today (Tuesday). Concerns of the standalone and chain business operators regarding deep discounting, data masking, right to use own logistics, private labels and ad hoc campaigns were put forth,” NRAI president Rahul Singh said in a statement.

    Stating that the “concerns have been well taken”, he said, “we aim to continue these meetings on a bi-monthly basis for communicating feedback from the restaurant industry to the aggregators to ensure a healthy business environment for all stakeholders.” NRAI is the apex body of the Indian restaurant industry, representing over one lakh restaurants across the country.

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  • Woowa Korea gets $320 million from overseas

    Woowa Korea gets $320 million from overseas

    Woowa Brothers, the operator of the popular food delivery app Baedal Minjok, said Thursday that it succeeded in securing $320 million from major foreign investors including Sequoia Capital, famous for investing in leading tech companies such as Apple and Google.

    According to Woowa Brothers, other major investors include China’s Hillhouse Capital – which is also known for investing in Chinese tech giants including Tencent and Baidu and led this round of funding – and the Singapore government-owned wealth fund GIC.

    The food delivery app developer said the investment has solidified its position as a unicorn company – an unlisted start-up worth over $1 billion – as its post-money valuation is now worth 3 trillion won ($2.66 billion).

    The company said it was able to secure such a large investment thanks to its exceptional growth.

    The Baedal Minjok app, normally referred to as Baemin, now processes nearly 27 million food delivery orders every month, up from 20 million in July. The app has 8 million monthly active users.

    Food delivery sales have more than doubled in the past three years. Baemin processed around 5 trillion won worth of food delivery orders this year, up from 2 trillion won in 2015.

    Since its founding in 2010, Woowa Brothers has received a total of 506.3 billion won in investment. Previous investors include Goldman Sachs, which invested 40 billion won, and Naver, which invested 35 billion won.

    “It’s significant that our company’s growth and future potential was recognized by reputable global investors,” said Oh Se-yoon, Woowa Brothers’ executive vice president and CSO.

    Woowa’s business interests go beyond food delivery. Its other projects include developing delivery robots powered by AI and self-driving technology and building an online system to help restaurant owners manage revenue and customers.

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  • Food delivery start-up Swiggy raises US$ 1 billion from venture funds

    Food delivery start-up Swiggy raises US$ 1 billion from venture funds

    Leading food ordering and delivery start-up Swiggy has raised US $1 billion (Rs 7,000 crore) venture funds from existing investors led by Naspers, to strengthen its technology and hire talent, it said on Thursday. “Swiggy will use the funds to bring more quality food brands closer to consumers and address gaps in supply through delivery-only kitchens, as well as hire talent and strengthen the technology,” the city-based app provider said in a statement.

    The Series H round of funding, led by Naspers, also includes the participation of existing investors DST Global, Meituan Dianping and Coatue Management.

    The funding round saw the participation of new investors Tencent, Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management Company, the company said.

    The firm will also use the capital to hire talent, especially for machine learning and engineering roles across mid and senior levels, as well as strengthen its technology backbone.

    “The company will focus on building a next-generation Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven platform for hyperlocal discovery and on-demand delivery,” it added.

    Inclusive of the latest round, Swiggy said it has raised a total of US$ 1.26 billion (Rs 8,825 crore).

    In June, the food-tech start-up raised US$ 210 million (around Rs 1,500 crore) from multiple investment firms, including Naspers, DST Global in Series G funding and US$ 100 million (around Rs 700 crore) in Series F in February from multiple investors.

    Details of the promoters’ equity holding in their firm after the latest round of funding are not made public by the company.

    “As we add more firepower to our vision of elevating quality of life for urban consumers by offering unparalleled convenience, our global investors also share our purpose and have made a significant investment in our future,” Swiggy’s Chief Executive Sriharsha Majety said in the statement.

    Founded in 2014, Swiggy claims to have 50,000 restaurant partners across 50 cities, including New Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune, and receives about 25 million food orders a month.

    The company, which has over 4,000 employees, reported an operating revenue of Rs 442-crore for fiscal 2017-18.

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  • Indonesia’s Go-Jek Starts Trial Launch in Singapore, Challenges Grab

    Indonesia’s Go-Jek Starts Trial Launch in Singapore, Challenges Grab

    Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek kicked off a trial launch in parts of Singapore on Thursday and plans to roll out an array of services through its app in early 2019, challenging dominant player Grab in the small city-state. Both Go-Jek and Grab are raising billions of dollars and investing aggressively in the race to corner a bigger share of Southeast Asia, as more of the region’s 640 million consumers go online and use smartphones to shop, commute and make payments.

    Go-Jek, backed by the likes of Tencent Holdings, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, is initially launching ride-hailing service in parts of Singapore after forming a partnership with DBS Group Holdings, the region’s biggest bank.

    “As this is a new product, we will obviously give promotions, but at the end of the day, it shouldn’t only be pricing that differentiates our services,” Go-Jek’s president, Andre Soelistyo said on Thursday.

    Grab, backed by Japan’s SoftBank and Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing, bought Uber Technologies’ loss-making Southeast Asian business this year, marking the first big consolidation in the region.

    Following this, Singapore’s anti-trust watchdog slapped Grab and Uber with fines and imposed measures to open up the local market to competitors after concluding that their merger had driven up prices.

    Go-Jek’s executives declined to give any details on how many drivers it had signed up or a target for market share in Singapore but said payment services would be launched later.

    Started in 2011 in Jakarta, Go-Jek has evolved from a ride-hailing service to a one-stop app through which its customers can make online payments and order everything from food, groceries to massages.

  • Zomato India to expand food delivery business to 100 cities

    Zomato India to expand food delivery business to 100 cities

    Online restaurant guide and food ordering firm Zomato on Friday said it is expanding food delivery services to 100 cities over the next week.

    The company’s food delivery services are currently present across 93 cities and lists over 75,000 restaurants on the platform, Zomato said in a statement.

    “… the food delivery business is ramping up really well with the growth in main markets, as well as the reception in tier II tier III cities,” Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato said.

    Founded by Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah in 2008, Zomato is a restaurant search and discovery platform providing in-depth information for over 1.4 million restaurants across 24 countries and serves more than 50 million users every month.

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