Stand-Out Stats: Ten Key Takeaways from Research Presented at Food On Demand 2022

At the Food On Demand Conference, held in Las Vegas May 4-6, stand-out stats came a mile a minute from rockstar researchers Andrew Custage, head of analytics at Sense360 Medallia and Ariane Turley, senior research analyst at YipitData during a session moderated by Carl Orsbourn, COO of Learn. Delivery entitled Data & Insight in a Shifting Market. 

If you want to comb through the numbers, the presentation was made available by Food On Demand in the event app. Here are my ten quick takeaways, in case eyeballing charts and deciphering numbers isn’t your thing:

1) DoorDash is blowing away the competition. Its customers order more frequently (5X per month) than customers on any other third-party delivery platform. Over 45% of food delivery users order exclusively from DoorDash.

2) Loyalty program subscribers order more frequently and spend more. DashPass users make up 40% of monthly active users, but account for nearly 60% of sales.

3) Early results from A/B testing have led merchants to rely more on percentage off discounts over dollar amount off discounts. 

4) If you run promotions on first-party + third-party platforms, you get a huge increase in attach rates. Doing both is the trend. Brands that have traditionally relied on third-party sales are expanding their first-party presence, while traditionally first-party brands are pushing third-party delivery. 

5) If you can get them coming to you via first-party channels, they order 4X more a quarter than users on third-party platforms. 

6) Customers usually pick their preferred channel and stick to it.

7) Fees are the number one (and growing) barrier to third-party use (42% cited). 

8) Micro Fulfillment is on the rise: goPuff is growing faster than UberEats. 

9) Catering is on the rebound since the pandemic; ezCater shows strong recovery.

10) When it comes to virtual brands, the celebrity factor may trump parent brand affiliation.