Just Eat Takeaway.com, in partnership with PA Consulting, recently released a report that suggests that the on-demand revolution, which has transformed the foodservice sector, will soon have a similar impact on the world of groceries and supermarkets.
The Rapid Evolution: The transformative future of on-demand grocery delivery and beyond, surveyed 4,000 people in four markets (the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain).
Andrew Kenny, Just Eat Takeaway.com’s chief commercial officer, speaks to ESM about how on-demand delivery has shifted from the foodservice to the retail arena, and how this could benefit not just consumers but wider society. The full interview will be featured in the September/October edition of ESM – click here for details on how to subscribe.
ESM: What prompted Just Eat Takeaway.com to put together this report?
Andrew Kenny: We wanted to validate a lot of the assumptions that we are now seeing in the markets in our own customer data, which are really very positive. In markets that are further ahead in the grocery category, such as the UK, we are seeing very significant growth.
We wanted to validate the data that we see on our platform and try to also understand if it changes in different markets around Europe.
What surprised you the most about the results?
It comes out very clearly in the report that people live extremely hectic lifestyles, juggling a lot of different priorities from work to family life, and everything that goes with that.
There is a sense that these on-demand delivery services in grocery, but also more and more in other retail channels, are giving precious time back to people.
How did the pandemic affect this trend?
Frequency on our platform increased very significantly during the pandemic, as you would expect. People were at home, and couldn't visit restaurants or order takeaway for collection, so that made sense.
However, we have not seen any real meaningful decline in frequency as we have come out of the pandemic. The reason for that is that the selection and the offer that is available to these customers now is night and day compared to what it was prior to the pandemic.
Is the report good news or bad news for traditional high street retailers?
I think omnichannel retailing is here to stay, and this is a complementary category.
This is the compelling part for retailers, where they see and understand that they need to reach customers in different use cases and in different stages of their lives.
Do you think the rise of on-demand retailing could bring wider gains for society?
Yes, absolutely. The report talks about some of those use cases. There is a food waste advantage. Also, on-demand shopping offers empowerment to people that have either disabilities or accessibility issues – the needs for both young and old can be served in these ways.
What do you see as the future opportunities for your business, and the wider sector?
A big takeaway for me is that restaurants and food outlets were the foundation of this on-demand space – getting your food delivered in less than 30 minutes.
The next frontier that we are really evolving into is grocery, and this is very significant because there are multiple use cases. In parallel to this, we are also getting more and more excited about broader retail.
The full interview with Andrew Kenny will be featured in the September/October edition of ESM – click here for details on how to subscribe.
