Ever since Uber kickstarted the on-demand economy, on-demand delivery services have popped out everywhere. This steady growth is expected to continue as businesses in different sectors find ways to serve their customers better and faster. Then, the pandemic happened…
As people tended to stay home to avoid the contagion, the economy, in general, suffered – but the on-demand economy is grew exponentially. With the surge in demand, the knock-on effect is that supply chain is struggling, with a lack of drivers and backlogs of deliveries leading to a shortage of products on shelves among other problems. In this economy, customers are expecting deliveries of food and other goods within 60 minutes of placing the delivery.
On demand refers to the “access economy” where consumer demands are met immediately with the use of technology. This on-demand economy can be found in almost every industry — food, transportation, logistics, groceries— you name it. An example of this is the famous food delivery platform, Uber Eats, where the idea is to make ordering food from restaurants easy and convenient with the use of an app. All you need to do is select a restaurant, place your order, and a short time later your food will be delivered whilst you wait in the comfort of your own home.
There’s no mistaking it, consumers love the convenience that on-demand delivery brings because they don’t need to waste time travelling to the restaurant to pick up their order. The ‘I want it now’ mentality is more prevalent than ever, and with ongoing fears surrounding the coronavirus pandemic many people still have anxiety about going out. On-demand delivery eliminates the need of leaving your home to get what you need. Simply download an appropriate app, place your order, indicate your address, and wait for delivery. For the most part, on-demand food delivery services take around 30 minutes to execute the order from the order being places to home delivery, which is pretty exceptional. With software such as predictive algorithms, real-time tracking, route optimisation, task automation, scheduling, and delivery management modules, everything happens at the blink of an eye.
With a tectonic shift in behaviour, offering on-demand delivery to consumers seems to be a mandatory option rather than something restaurants pick not to have. It’s normal to assume that consumers would pick their favourite store based on the quality of the product. However, with the on-demand economy here, there’s a slight change to how consumers choose them. Customers are just as concerned about the delivery as much as the product itself, and research shows consumers are increasingly likely to pick a preferred store based on how fast their delivery option is. This is one of the many reasons that the popularity of same day delivery services continues to grow, as consumers want faster access to the goods they’ve purchased rather than waiting for days to receive them.
With many on-demand delivery apps these days, business owners and consumers are able to track the delivery of the order in real-time and even be able to communicate with their delivery driver. On the side of the business, on-demand delivery ensures that the ordered product is delivered at the exact location to the right person. On the side of the consumers, they will appreciate the enhanced transparency and will increase the trust that they have in the business. It will give them greater peace of mind as they can now track their orders and get an estimated time of arrival.
At DeliveryApp, our goal is simple. To connect businesses and consumers to self employed drivers to provide a simple, sustainable and traceable same day delivery service. With our technology, we’re helping to reshape the courier industry by enabling our customers access to one of the fastest-growing and reliable driver networks in the UK. If you’re looking to book a same day delivery courier or find out more about our services, visit DeliveryApp today to join the delivery revolution!
