COVID-19 AND DELIVEROO Natalie Ning

HOW COVID-19 HAS AFFECTED DELIVEROO

During this COVID-19 pandemic, people are encouraged to stay at home in the UK to reduce the spread of the virus. The ban of dining in restaurants during lockdowns caused a significant surge in demand for food conveniences leading to an expansion of delivery platforms including Deliveroo.

According to the table, the revenue of Deliveroo raised from $18 million in 2015 to $4.1 billion in 2020. The pandemic accelerated the trends in food deliveries and altered the consumer’s behaviours. People started to order their meals online and get them delivered in front of their houses. This led to dramatically increase in revenue over six times between 2019 and 2020.

As a result of the economic downturn experienced by most of the industries in the UK, many people had become unemployed or forced to be on furlough. More and more of them chose to become part-time workers at Deliveroo in order to make a living during this difficult period. A survey suggested that a driver on Deliveroo can earn around $8.94 to $14.34 per hour. Without a doubt, this became the main source of income of the unemployed and this lowers the unemployment rate.

Meanwhile, delivery platforms are massively crucial to restaurants as they struggled to survive or even faced the risk of closing down when the dining in operations are heavily restricted by the government. Although they have to pay approximately 25% of their revenue as a commission fee, delivery platforms allowed restaurants to cover the loss of income from closing down. Moreover, restaurants can reach out to more potential customers while creating brand awareness.

The market share of Deliveroo emerged from 7% in 2015 to over 30% in 2020, becoming one of the top brands in the industry.