Delivery Apps: How They Respond to Coronavirus

With lockdowns being imposed because of the rapid spread of the pandemic COVID-19 we’re all stuck at home. Recently panic-induced buying has caused people to hoard daily household items. It is being advised to stay inside. Delivery Service apps are advised to be used at this time.

Amidst all this chaos, people have turned to delivery service apps like Amazon, Walmart, and target home delivery. We are forced to order food and other amenities online as self-isolation becomes necessary and restaurants close their doors. Most of us are avoiding going to crowded grocery stores just to make a meal.

Some of you might be confused about whether we can order online and is it safe? The answer is yes. The FDA and CDC have declared it safe. We will turn to the safety side of things as we go further.

Statistics

Recently downloads of delivery apps are growing every day. That too at an exponential rate. Apptopia, an app intelligence company revealed a shocking analysis. The surge in downloads of these delivery apps increased exponentially. Usually, apps like Instacart see downloads around 18,000 to 20,000 but on 15th march a record 38,500 downloads. Not only Instacart Walmart and Target Grocery apps are also seeing a significant increase. Target recently integrated Shipt as a part of its grocery app. This is the reason that Shipt is seeing the number of downloads in the statistics above.

Grocery Delivery Services operating during COVID-19

A huge influx of daily orders has caused shipping delays over the past few weeks for same-day grocery delivery service giants like Amazon and Walmart. The number of orders has put a load on both the stores and delivery services. Amazon Prime has been facing huge delivery delays. We tried having grocery delivered and for two days we only got the message “No delivery window, try again tomorrow.” Limits are being placed on items like Lysol Disinfectant spray, toilet paper, and sanitary wipes so people don’t hoard.

The Bright Side

To counter the work load, more employees are being hired. Their pay is being increased. Amazon is now hiring 10,00 more employees and increasing their basic wage from 15$ to 17$ per hour for compensation.

Each grocery app is assigning “Delivery Windows” to each area. Residents can then order as per their delivery windows. They adjust almost daily to ease consumers. The surge of orders is decreased by a very small percentage by doing this.

 

Food Delivery Services operating during COVID-19

On the contrary, food delivery apps in the US have seen a gradual drop. You would wonder why?

Initially, downloads for food delivery apps rose but cooled off in March. It is due to the fact that most people realized the cost of having food delivered is higher as compared to cooking at home. Additionally, despite the constant reassurances by delivery services such as UberEats, contactless delivery people fear that it’s not safe for them to perform the services.

Food delivery apps are guaranteeing contactless deliveries. But that is not the only issue. You get food delivered because you don’t want to cook. But if the delivery apps increase the charges you will be more inclined to cook at home. FoodBoss is a company analyzing popular food delivery services across the fifty states. According to FoodBoss’s data “There was some surge pricing last week, but that has dramatically shifted to fees that are more reasonable across the board. From March 12 to March 18, we saw that food delivery fee were 16.3% higher than the first week of February.”

The Bright Side

However, there’s a bright side. Knowing that this surge caused a cool off in the market they decided to decrease costs. GrubHub and UberEats used to charge commissions as high as 30% from restaurants. A temporary cut of commission alone adds up to a $100 million relief for the restaurants. On the other hand, customers had to pay delivery costs. UberEats all over the U.S and Canada are not charging its customers any delivery charges.

How are they ensuring delivery is safe?

We have to understand that we are in this together. Some efforts are being made on the part of these delivery services and some efforts have to be made on your part. This will ensure there is no room for mistakes.

Efforts by Delivery Services

Delivery services are providing contactless deliveries. Delivery drivers are dropping off packages at the door. They are also encouraging you to make good use of the “Delivery Instructions” tab. Last week Instacart added a Leave at My Door Delivery Option. Similarly, other services have enabled this option as a default as well.

What You Need to Do

As mentioned before, write delivery notes. It’s up to you how you want your package delivered. When you pick up the package sanitize things you can. In terms of food wash your hand first. It is encouraged to shift your food to your own container. Disinfect anything you can.

An added tip: Tip the delivery driver extra. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. They don’t have work from home options they can choose.

The New “Normal”

The post corona world is expected to move towards global digitization. The businesses that survive will be the ones that became virtual and continue to operate. There will be no “returning to normal”. These efforts toward digitization will not be reversed just because the pandemic is over. This will be the new normal. The world’s top economies took a huge hit. We will come out of this stronger. We had digitization coming for many years. It was being slowed down by the ongoing routines we had. Don’t worry this will be positive. We are starting to impact our lives and the environment in a way that is favourable.

This pandemic has opened us to the idea of globalization. It is now that we realize that it’s a small world after all. Governments are rising for the better and supporting people, countries are helping their neighbours. As fast as it spread the more it has made us realize that we as a human race stand together.