WHERE WE’RE HEADED
With billions of dollars pumped into the delivery
economy over the past 18 months, we’re seeing
more competition and indeed innovations
in the sector. Though food is a key target for
many, grocery and household goods deliveries
are also on the rise, with some chains now
offering one-hour deliveries and click-and-
collect services to help consumers get their
goods faster. What’s really interesting, however,
is that many platforms remain unprofitable for
an extended period of time. They have a robust
flow of risk capital and follow a ‘growth before
profits’ strategy. Deliveroo, for example, has
raised $1.5 billion from investors and was valued
at $2 billion in 2017, but it has reported losses
in the hundreds of millions every year, even
after 2020 when many expected a turning
point for the growing delivery giant. As we’re
already beginning to see, the delivery industry
will likely consolidate and we’ll see just a handful
of players - perhaps even two or three - that will
prove victorious.
Sticking with the food sector, many predict that
deep learning and machine learning will lead
to more innovation in the space. Companies
will be able to recommend particular products
depending on a users’ action, and we’ll also the
rise of collaborative apps where consumers can
build their own orders and send them to friends
to add their own tweaks and changes.
One area where delivery companies will
struggle in the years to come is in recruitment
and finding the right staff for the job, so many
are turning to autonomous vehicles to do
the job instead. These futuristic, cartoon-