Delivery Aggregators
Just Eat
Just Eat started life as an order aggregation platform. What that means is that they were the platform that created a market place of all takeaways in an area and presented that to a customer to choose from. The platform would then take the order (aggregate) and pass through the the operator (takeaway / restaurant) who would then take care of the delivery. This was a hugely profitable service for JustEAT as they didn’t own anything other than the software process so they earned commission without having the costs associated with either preparing or delivering the food. At its peak JustEAT was taking 1 in 3 of every online food order in the UK
Because of this heritage of a huge base of independent operators and mostly price conscious, younger demographic customers that’s still where JustEAT sits. KFC, Gregg’s Burger King, Pizza Hut are the types of brands you are going to associate JustEAT with.
JustEAT still get the most web traffic on any operator – 2020 they were the 95th most visited website in the UK.
Delivery aggregation is now a big focus but they are playing catch up – not that you should be concerned by that. JustEAT are transitioning from the order takers into order taker – deliverers, and they are catching up quick. Depending on your brand and price positioning don’t worry about’s JustEATS relative newness to Deliveroo & Uber EATS platforms – they still have great UK coverage and with the likes of Snoop Dog’s involvement and marketing campaign you can be sure they are serious about continuing to grow.
Summary thoughts
- Consider Just EAT for the younger, more price sensitive customer
- Review the brands that each operator markets – which does you offer sit best with (you can choose to be exclusive or across all three)
- A top 100 UK website traffic business there’s a huge customer base to market your product to
Deliveroo
Deliveroo started and to some extent remain the platform of restaurant brands and cool independent operators. Starting in London Deliveroo carefully curated a list of quality operators to offer their customer base. Deliveroo needed operators that could provide a great service, with quality product that customers were already using, but had difficulty (or impossible) to have delivered.
Think Five Guys, Wagamama, Leon, Krispy Kreme, Byron when thinking where your offering sits and what type of user sits on the Deliveroo platform.
Deliveroo started as the order aggregator delivery platform. From the outset they had their fleet of riders (William Shu included at times) and their differentiator was that as a restaurant, food provider that they provided you with the tablet and all you had to do was accept orders and let them take care of delivery.
The success of this model is reflected in their Global expansion and $7bn valuation at the end of 2020 with a IPO pending.
Deliveroo’s target customer is 20-35, affluent, cash rich and time poor. They place (as the others do to be far) a huge focus on the quality of your service and offer. If you can’t hit their KPI’s then you’ll be lost on their platform. Deliveroo’s popularity in 2020 saw 20,000 new business locations open up on their platform so don’t expect to open and just have traffic. You’ll still need a robust opening plan. See are blog on Deliveroo’s plans to open in 100 new towns and cities about how to take advantage of their growth.
Summary
- Think Deliveroo for brands, a higher price point than JustEAT, and heavy focus on you delivering great service, quality and speed (KPI’s) to the customer
- As well as delivery services, Deliveroo will also send you foot traffic to click and collect for a lower commission
- Deliveroo have a network of their own cloud kitchens and can support your expansion in that way as well.
Uber EATS
In our experience we see Uber EATS and Deliveroo in the same sort of space. Originating out of Ubers rides business in the USA it’s a major player in the UK market.
Uber EATS has the same strategy to have a curated list of the most popular restaurant brands and fast food heavy weights. It’s closer positioned to Deliveroo in its customer base than Just EAT for the reasons explained above.
If you’re considering between Deliveroo and Uber EATS for an exclusive listing then they do have regional strengths but coverage of the UK is at the time of writing not a differentiator.
As they are closely matched your decision will take into account the deal offered, any marketing support for being exclusive and even down to the relationship you feel you can with the account manager. If you have a good relationship with the operator that can be a major swing in driving commerciality.
We are big fans of Uber EATS and they have consistently been supportive of a partnership approach to growth. Their self service platforms and account manager expertise and their willingness to support new ideas probably just gives them our leaning vote. BUT we also know others that would start with Deliveroo first.
Summary
- A major player in the UK delivery space (and Globally)
- Great for businesses who want to discuss partnerships, supportive of interesting start ups
- Nuanced differences to Deliveroo for regional preference by customers
- Consider exclusivity if launching
