In the last few years, Food Delivery Services such as Glovo, Deliveroo, UberEats, GrubHub and DoorDash have seen an incredible rise in popularity. It is undeniable that ordering food online has become a way of life for many people. But what’s becoming increasingly clear is that these delivery services are now facing a day of reckoning as customers start to question their loyalty and as the experience between them becomes more of the same.
So what has caused this waning of confidence? Well, it seems that customers are fed up with the fees associated with ordering food online. Not only are they being charged for the cost of their meal (which is understandable) but in addition to this they’re also paying a service charge and a delivery fee which can often be quite expensive.
Furthermore, there have been reports of late deliveries and cold food arriving at a customer’s home when it should be hot. In the USA this is way more common than in Europe, where the delivery riders use hot packs all the time to keep things warm.
One could argue that some services offer refunds or discounts when this happens, but more often than not customers don’t receive any kind of apology or financial compensation for these issues. The increasing lack of support from these companies when something does go wrong has left many people feeling frustrated and unappreciated by these businesses. This is ironic, as in their venture backed days, refunds to keep customers happy was standard operating procedure as part of getting big fast. Much like other unicorn type companies did, subsidizing the business with venture money led to large paydays when the company went public. After that, forget about customer service.
Finally, there always seem to be shortages of drivers available meaning orders can take much longer than expected to arrive at customer’s doorsteps; this too has caused further disappointment and dissatisfaction amongst those who rely heavily on delivery services for their meals.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that something needs to change if these companies want to remain competitive in today’s market, especially as customers start re-evaluating their options and begin opting out of using delivery services altogether – either by cooking at home or picking up meals themselves from restaurants directly instead of using one of these third-party platforms.
In order for the delivery companies to succeed in the long-term they need to make sure that their offerings are significantly better than those provided by traditional restaurants; otherwise there will simply be no incentive for customers to use them over other alternatives. Ultimately it’s down to each individual company whether they choose to invest in improving their services or not; however if they don’t act soon then we may see a decline in the popularity of food delivery services across the board.
If it seems like Food Delivery Services such as Glovo, Deliveroo, UberEats, GrubHub and DoorDash are facing an uncertain future due to rising criticism over exorbitant fees and poor customer service experiences overall, they are. If nothing changes then we may see a decline in the popularity of food delivery services across the board as customers decide to opt out altogether – either by cooking at home or picking up meals themselves from restaurants directly instead of relying on third-party platforms for their meals.
However if these food delivery companies prioritize investing in improving their offerings then there is still hope that they can remain competitive players in today’s market going forward.
Only time will tell what lies ahead for these companies.