Source: https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/food-delivery-services-grubhub-uber-eats-doordash-postmates/
When many Americans sheltered in their homes early in the coronavirus pandemic, meal delivery sales reached new heights. Our data reveals that in February 2022, sales for meal delivery services grew 10 percent year-over-year, collectively.
The ongoing pandemic may also be driving more Americans to make their first meal delivery purchase. In February 2022, 51 percent of U.S. consumers had ever ordered from one of the meal delivery services in our analysis, up from 46 percent a year ago.
These thriving businesses have been in the spotlight during the COVID-19 era. DoorDash (NYSE: DASH) made its public market debut with one of the biggest IPOs of 2020, while Uber (NYSE: UBER) acquired Postmates at the end of November 2020 in an attempt to consolidate market share and boost profitability. Uber is also seeking ways to diversify its existing business, such as by launching a U.S. grocery delivery service and piloting same-day delivery with Costco. Uber has also expanded its prescription delivery partnership with Nimble and acquired alcohol delivery company Drizly. Meanwhile, DoorDash has partnerships with CVS as well as regional and national convenience stores for the delivery of household essentials. DoorDash also partnered with Albertsons to expand its grocery delivery offerings and reportedly engaged in talks to buy Instacart. In September 2021, DoorDash also announced that it was adding alcohol delivery to its app.
Bloomberg Second Measure’s transaction data shows that DoorDash and its subsidiaries earned 58 percent of U.S. consumers’ meal delivery sales in February 2022, while Uber Eats came in second place with 24 percent. It’s worth noting that our sales metrics may differ from publicly reported earnings for a number of reasons. First, some Uber Eats transactions are indistinguishable from Uber Rides transactions in Bloomberg Second Measure’s data, and this issue was especially pronounced from May 2019 to mid-August 2019. Additionally, Bloomberg Second Measure’s data does not include Uber Eats’ purchases made using Uber Cash or purchases made by corporate customers, an area where Uber Eats is reportedly making inroads. Our analysis includes debit and credit card purchases from a panel of millions of U.S. consumers. Postmates earned 3 percent of the U.S. meal delivery market in February, bringing Uber’s total market share to 27 percent.
Grubhub (NASDAQ: GRUB) and its subsidiaries, which include Seamless and Eat24, came in at 14 percent of U.S. meal delivery consumer spending in February 2022. (Purchases made through LevelUp, which Grubhub acquired in late 2018, are not included in our analysis. Neither are college student meal plan purchases made through Grubhub subsidiary Tapingo.)
One of the industry’s smaller services, Waitr (NASDAQ: WTRH), earned 1 percent of national sales in February 2022. In January 2020, the company announced plans to lay off all drivers in favor of using contractors. The change came weeks after Waitr installed a new CEO as it tried to boost share prices and remain listed on Nasdaq. In December 2021, Waitr also announced its plans to acquire the cannabis dispensary POS platform Cova.
Average sales per customer on the rise at meal delivery companies, especially DoorDash and Uber Eats
In addition to more consumers ordering from food delivery services, the average sales per customer has increased at these companies during the pandemic. DoorDash and Uber Eats have seen the most growth in average sales per customer over the past two years. At DoorDash, the average sales per customer in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 104 percent higher than in the fourth quarter of 2019. For Uber Eats, the average sales per customer rose 72 percent during the same time period.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, DoorDash customers spent the most, with an average of $309 per customer. Uber Eats’ quarterly customer spend was the second highest with an average of $239, while customers at Postmates and Grubhub spent an average of $168 and $158, respectively.
Subscription meals have appeal
As meal delivery services look for new ways to grow in cities big and small, one emerging answer is subscriptions. Postmates launched Postmates Unlimited in 2016, while DoorDash and Grubhub followed suit with their own subscription options in 2018 and 2020, respectively. In November 2021, Uber also launched its new “Uber One” subscription plan, which offers benefits for both rides and delivery services.
In February 2022, DoorDash’s DashPass subscription attracted 29 percent of DoorDash’s customers. Among cohorts who signed up for DashPass between February 2021 and February 2022, an average of 70 percent remained subscribed after one month. The average six-month customer retention rate for DashPass was 44 percent and the average 12-month retention rate was 33 percent.
To learn more about the data behind this article and what Second Measure has to offer, visit https://secondmeasure.com/.
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