With 90% of Britain's food shopping conducted within convenience
sector, superfast delivery ushers new age of retail
- 21% of Brits (6.7 million) want their grocery collections to
be ready within 30 minutes of ordering
- 21% of Brits (6.3 million) can never get a supermarket
delivery slot to suit their availability
- 71% of Brits (25.2 million) said that the pandemic
highlighted how few delivery slots supermarkets can cater
for
2021 sparked huge enthusiasm for rapid grocery delivery services
in the UK, with VC funding into the sector reaching over
£68m. According to Beauhurst, more than £2.8bn has been invested
into British foodtechs since 2011, proving indicative of the
increasing consumer demand for technology integrations in the
food and retail sectors. This trend has also been spurred by the
increasing demand for e-commerce within the retail sector
as consumers avoided physical shopping during the
depths of sequential lockdowns over the course of the pandemic.
In a recent report from Bain, the pandemic brought about a four
year acceleration of e-commerce within the British grocery sector
during 2020 alone. In light of this, the pioneering 'Scan, Pay,
Go' app Ubamarket, has commissioned
national research investigating the consumer rationale for
the emergence of third party delivery services, as well as the
common frustrations experienced.
In the landmark study by Ubamarket, 71% of Brits cited that the
pandemic highlighted how few delivery slots supermarkets
could cater for, with 6.3 million Brits agreeing that they can
never find a delivery time to suit their availability. With
this being one of the prime factors for the sudden rise in
delivery services, 21% of Brits have stated that they expect
their groceries delivered to them within 30 minutes of ordering.
With accelerated growth in the market, there are of course
teething issues, many of which have been outlined in Ubamarket's
study. One of the most common areas of dissatisfaction with
delivery services is the inflated prices of produce
advertised on apps; with 51% of the nation saying that they have
been dissuaded from ordering groceries with rapid delivery
companies due to the products being more expensive than the
prices found on physical shelves. Further to this, 21% agreed
that poor customer service and experiences had deterred them from
future usage of these services.
Key stats:
- 21% of Brits (6.7 million) want their grocery collections to
be ready within 30 minutes of ordering
- 21% of Brits (6.3 million) can never get a supermarket
delivery slot to suit their availability
- 71% of Brits (25.2 million) said that the pandemic
highlighted how few delivery slots supermarkets can cater for
- 37% of Brits (14.2 million) would be more likely to shop at
their local store if they had a delivery/collection service
available
- 26% of Brits (5.8 million) have been dissuaded from using
3rd party delivery services because they aren’t
delivered by the supermarket they ordered from
- 21% of Brits (4.6 million) have had a terrible experience
using a 3rd party delivery service for groceries, that
has put them off using them again
- 24% of Brits (6.8 million) feel that they have been neglected
by living outside of a major city and not having access to a
delivery service app
- 51% of Brits (12.3 million) have been deterred from using a
3rd party delivery app as the products are listed at a
higher price than on the shelves
With the emergence of delivery services, it is often only the
largest supermarkets in the nation that can offer
delivery via 3rd party apps. With 90% of Britain's food
shopping conducted through the convenience and grocery sector, it
is essential that smaller retailers are able to remain
competitive.
Ubamarket's research unveiled that 37% of the population would be
more likely to shop with their local store if a delivery service
was available, providing an indication that further integrations
would help to boost the convenience and independent retail
economy. Furthermore, almost 7 million of us said that by living
outside of a major city, they had felt neglected due to not
having a delivery app servicing their locality. Relationship
building between consumer and retailer is crucial to the
continuity of the industry; one particularly interesting insight
from the study was that over a quarter of Brits
are dissuaded from using delivery apps as they are not
directly associated with the supermarket they are ordering
from.
Helping to bridge this gap between retailers and consumers, the
white-label 'Scan, Pay, Go' app Ubamarket is launching both
'Click & Collect" and delivery options to its offering.
Traditionally used as an app that provides an aisle sat-nav of
convenience stores, facilitated by their Magic Menu feature,
partnering stores will be able to provide their guests with
convenient deliveries, further bolstering the dynamic service
provision of the grocery sector. Along with features such as
facial recognition, plastic alerts, AI-driven personalised offers
and till-less payments, Ubamarket's white-label app will provide
the convenience sector with the most sophisticated technology to
evolve through the post-Covid retail landscape.
Will Broome, founder of Ubamarket LTD, has
commented on the research and the requirement for the convenience
sector to adopt high class technology.
"In the wake of the pandemic, the rapid growth of 3rd party
delivery services has been astounding, with major UK cities now
boasting a significant raft of competitors. This however has
raised several issues within the market. Firstly, the nature of
rapid delivery services tend to be exclusionary as they are only
available in the largest cities in the UK, despite the fact that
an inability to secure sufficient supermarket deliveries is a
problem nationwide.
"Secondly, many consumers are still deterred from using these 3rd
party providers as they aren't directly delivered by the
supermarkets themselves. This means that the trust between
retailers and the consumer is broken. By offering a service that
is direct from the supermarket of choice, we are helping to
address the respective issues of accessibility and trust, which
is why our white-label retail app is an essential for all in the
convenience sector".
