Deliveroo increases grocery deliveries but other rapid-delivery firms muscle in

By David Shrimpton in Industry News 20th January 2022

Deliveroo is continuing to increase the size of its grocery deliveries business despite competition from ultra-fast start-ups, the company revealed today.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, on-demand grocery deliveries made up 8% of the company’s gross transaction value (GTV), against 7% in the first half of 2021 and 6% in 2020.

At the end of 2021, Deliveroo had more than 11,000 grocery sites live globally, compared with more than 10,000 at the end of the third quarter of 2021.

In the UK, Deliveroo’s GTV was £945m in the fourth quarter of 2021, up by 36% on the same quarter in 2020 and by 12% on the third quarter of 2021.

During 2021, Deliveroo linked up with Morrisons to launch the Hop rapid delivery service.

Even so, analysts say Deliveroo is now facing several high-tech delivery rivals.

Nick Everitt, directory of advisory, EMEA at Edge by Ascential, said: “Deliveroo was an early leader in the delivery intermediary space but now faces intense competition from new entrants – app-based ultra-rapid delivery startups like Gorillas, Getir, Zapp and others, which are raising the bar in terms of consumer expectations for speedy delivery, often in as little as 10 minutes.”