Online food services: China is a pioneer

Food deliveries are booming. Whilst having a pizza delivered to your home for a movie night has been around for years, the demand for fresh and frozen foods that can be stored in consumers’ own kitchens or processed straight away is constantly growing. So instead of thinking “supermarket”, consumers now think “internet”. But convenience is not all they are looking for. Food is expected to arrive at their homes quickly in environmentally-friendly packaging that is aesthetically pleasing. However, box contents and delivery frequency differs from country to country.

Independent studies carried out by international market research institutes all reach identical conclusions: The online market for food and beverage shopping and deliveries will continue to grow within the coming years. The studies predict a global leap of 46 billion US dollars in 2017 by up to 112 billion in 2023 and finally 365 billion US dollars in  2030.

• China: The People’s Republic of China is a pioneer when it comes to ordering food and beverages on the internet. In 2018, the amount of deliveries in China grew to 50 billion and is expected to increase by a further ten billion this year.
• USA: In the USA, e-commerce retailers and packaging companies are also at the epicentre of the growth in online purchasing of food and beverages. By 2025, the market here is expected to reach at least 100 billion US dollars.
• European Union: In the EU5 countries France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Great Britain, around 130 million people visited online food platforms for an average of 20 minutes in September 2018. More than half of them were women and over 35 years of age.
  • Great Britain: Having food delivered to their door is currently worth 4.2 billion pounds to the Brits – an impressive increase of 73 percent compared to ten years ago. According to the market research institute NPD, this is not the end of this success story: They expect a further increase of around 17 percent in the next two years.
  • Germany: Germans are more hesitant – the share of online turnover in the food retail industry only amounted to 1.1 percent in 2017; just under 45 % explained their reluctance with a lack of trust  in the quality of the products, fear of long delivery times and high prices. Generally, there is more choice in urban centres than rural areas, where generally only smaller retailers and local supermarkets ship goods that have been ordered on the internet. The bonus principle: Nevertheless, according to a survey carried out on 1000 consumers, little extras can tempt Germans into ordering their food via the internet. The survey found that 49 percent of all respondents would click the order link if they were given a money-back guarantee, 45 percent if they were promised a replacement product if the goods were not available on the same day and retailers could lure in 44 percent by offering free delivery services.

Yes to convenience, no to waste – this is what customers are looking for. According to Nestlé, 66 percent of millennials are prepared to pay more for their online food purchases if packaging could be recycled or was made of re-usable materials. Each additional product required should only be used where helpful or where needed. For example, the delivery service Green Chef, which belongs to the HelloFresh group, has reduced the amount of ice packs in their delivery boxes and thus simultaneously uses 20 percent less material. British online delivery service Deliveroo offers customers an opt-out function on their orders. They then automatically receive their delivery without disposable cutlery and with straws made of cornflour. Soon, this will also be available in Thailand.

US American companies in particular are rethinking their strategies and are orienting themselves based on the increasing demand for ordering food online. The coffee house chain Starbucks, for example, plans to deliver their products to consumers’ doors soon. Likewise, in the near future customers will be able to place orders directly on the homepages of the Campbell Soup Company and Kellogg’s. Coca-Cola may not accept direct orders, however, they have already designed special packaging for shipping their beverage bottles for orders placed on retailers’ websites.