Fast delivery — or express delivery — was born out of the need for consumers to be able to buy products online and receive them as quickly as possible. Thanks to the numerous lockdowns that have characterised recent years, the express delivery market has grown in record time to become a real must-have in today’s world.
Data from the B2C eCommerce Observatory has confirmed an increase of 2 million new subscribers to Food&Grocery delivery in the year 2021.
The digital food delivery sector is growing and will grow by 59% in 2022 compared to 2020 (according to data from the Just Eat observatory). The value generated revolves around €1,5 billion.
In the last year alone, more than 50% of restaurants have chosen digital to expand their business.
What is Quick Commerce
Quick Commerce (Q-commerce) refers to e-commerce services that manage deliveries in such a way as to reduce delivery times as much as possible.
The first start-up with these characteristics was founded in Berlin under the name Delivery Hero; within a few months it had spread to over 50 countries. The aim of Q-commerce is to ensure a fast and high quality experience for the consumer and the main features of this service include express delivery in a few minutes, the selection of a smaller quantity of products, the use of two-wheeled vehicles to speed up the process and the comparison of price and quality between the various articles.
Leader in this field is Amazon Prime with 200 million subscribers worldwide. “Glovomania” is also gaining popularity as a new e-commerce trend: the Spanish start-up Glovo aims to strengthen its services by expanding its network of dark stores (delivery warehouses).
Q-commerce applications
According to a Digital Commerce 360/Bizrate Insights survey in February 2021, 68% of consumers said express delivery would lead them to a second online order. This means that as consumer habits change, so does the way consumers relate to businesses. The emergence of quick commerce apps and startups is enabling an increasingly radical evolution in the world of delivery: for example, Walmart has introduced Walmart +, which offers same-day delivery in the US. Lidl, Delivery Hero and Carrefour have also moved to expand time-sensitive food delivery.
In Italy, Getir, a Turkish rapid delivery company, has raised $555 million, with a total valuation of $7,5 billion.
The evolution of food delivery in Italy
Food delivery is a service that delivers food to your door via online platforms. In recent years, Italy has witnessed a strong expansion in this field, thanks in part to new technologies and the convenience factor, which is now fundamental to the needs of increasingly demanding users. The first food delivery platform dates back to 1996. It marks the beginning of a new culture that creates a bond between customer, company and commerce. In 2015 we are witnessing a 50% growth in the food delivery market. We can see 7 million active users in Italy, of which a good 19% opt for online food services.
According to a 2020 Deliverart report over 50,000 Italian restaurants are delivering, with 16% of consumers placing orders online and 84% ordering offline. During the summer of 2020, 35% of users aged between 16 and 64 years used an online food delivery service.
