The value of the online food delivery market this year is expected to dip 0.6% year-on-year to 86 billion baht, while the volume of orders is forecast to decrease by 11.3%, according to Kasikorn Research Center (K-Research).
The decline is attributed to changes in consumer behaviour post-pandemic, the rise in the cost of living and problems consumers have experienced when making orders.
According to the research house, the average price per order this year rose 8.6% over 2022.
A survey conducted by K-Research in May found the majority (44%) of respondents were still ordering food online but they had reduced the number of orders they make due to a shift towards dining out or cooking at home. This group also do not wish to incur the additional cost associated with ordering food online.
Another 42% of respondents said they would continue to order food online for delivery as normal, while 8% said they would not use it at all. Some 6% of respondents said they would no longer order food online for delivery.
While the majority of respondents believed they would continue to use online food delivery services, they suggested they might avoid using such services in the future, due to the rising cost of food orders stemming from higher food prices and a higher delivery service fee.
Moreover, they also mentioned some specific chronic problems, such as receiving food that does not resemble the images shown on the menu, and not receiving the quantity of food expected in relation to the amount of money paid.
According to K-Research, online food delivery platform providers should work with those involved in the supply chain to address such issues to improve the customer experience.
Most respondents (80%) use more than one online food delivery app, with more than half using two apps to make regular food orders.
The intense competition among food delivery platform providers resulted in users switching to use the apps alternately for overall price comparison.
The majority of users (58%) of food delivery service platforms are classified as members of Gen Y, followed by Gen X (28%). Most respondents wanted to see the platforms offer services that cover all their daily needs and meet them within a single app.
K-Research perceives that amid intense competition among the platform operators and the diversity of user behaviour, food delivery platform providers need to adapt their strategies to become more specific such as by using their own platform's database in tandem with their restaurant partners in order to tap each consumer's specific lifestyle requirements.
For example, they should offer special discounts to those who regularly order food from the same restaurant or focus on Gen Y or Gen X which both have different lifestyles.
They should also deploy advanced technologies to create a better consumer experience and help them penetrate targeted groups.
In a related matter, online food delivery platform Line Man Wongnai recently revealed that between January 2022 and April 2023, orders via its food delivery platform continued to grow.
In Bangkok and its suburbs orders rose by 25%, while the number of new users grew by 27%. In upcountry areas, orders grew 17% and the number of new users increased by 10%.
Line Man Wongnai is gearing up to increase recurring revenue through its point-of-sale (POS) food restaurant total management solutions.
This development started taking shape after it reached an agreement to acquire FoodStory, a local startup specialising in restaurant POS systems, in order to expand the firm's merchant solutions business in high-end restaurants.