A Glimpse at the Transformation of the Food Delivery Services
Providing delivery of food and drinks as a service isn’t new, but the events and activities that trended during the pandemic kept the service in high demand.
In London, orders for food and beverages, as well as for online grocery purchases, were delivered by different types of couriers. It has been that way ever since, boosting sales from online food delivery to growth of 20%. It’s expected to constitute 40% of total food outlet sales in 2027. The increased demand for food delivery has been sending many man with van couriers out in the streets.
As food and drinks providers and grocers had to stay on top of the growing competition, it’s important to ensure that they will not fall short of delivery services; or of any type of courier services. Up to this date, the market for online food delivery is still going strong and is expected to remain that way in the coming years.
Current Trends in Online Food and Grocery Delivery
DasS or Third Party Delivery as a Service
While restaurants, fast food chains and various food outlets have staffing issues, it became necessary to partner with third party providers of delivery services (DaaS). Doing so had in fact boosted sales, as coverages expanded. Unlike in previous years when coverage restrictions were observed by their respective in-house fleet.
However, to keep the delivery operations under the control of the food or grocery outlet, orders are placed using their respective online ordering system.
Food Delivery Management Software and Third Party Delivery Services
Apparently, tracking of data on customer orders and deliveries, is of great importance. Data allows major food companies to analyze ways of improving the depth and coverage of their food delivery operations. Instead of letting large portions of food delivery data stay in the hands of the third party DaaS providers, a food delivery management software is in place.
This program allows storing of data and at the same time tracking of key performance indicators (KPIs). The purpose of this is to determine the quality of service rendered by the third-party DaaS. The software is capable of collecting data taken and processed by the online store system and those taken and processed by any third-party delivery service hooked to the food delivery software. Companies offering man with van services are more inclined to take part in the delivery of online grocery purchases.
We checked with the What Man and Van website and found out that aside from offering packaging and relocating services, the company is also into performing courier services involving online purchases.
Food Delivery Systems Integrated in Google’s Search and Map Pages
As people all over the world have become increasingly reliant on online delivery services, Google improved its browser platform with food ordering capabilities in 2019, which was prior to the COVID-19 health crisis.
The feature enabled restaurants to collaborate with Google in having their online ordering systems linked to Google’s Search Pages and Maps. That way, the search page results include outlets that permit customers to place food or grocery orders directly from the search page, and without the need to leave the browser platform.
