Glovo, Jumia Food, Jibli M3ak, and Kaalix. These fast food delivery apps have become part of Moroccan’s daily life. With the crisis of covid 19 still controlling our lives combined with the world’s transition to a more digitalized lifestyle, you would probably assume that the majority of Moroccans would use food delivery applications. However, Sunergia Group’s numbers say quite the opposite.
An initiative by a marketing pioneer in Morocco and Africa with 30 years of experience named Sunergia Group conducted a recent survey revealing that barely 25% of Moroccans use food delivery apps.
The report, titled “Use of meal delivery apps in Morocco,” concluded that one in every four Moroccans uses meal delivery apps, based on data obtained from a representative sample of the population.
Although astounding in comparison to the African continent’s average of 2.26% (approximately 31.8 million consumers), this rate of use of delivery applications remains somewhat lower than that of other countries where Foodtech (an ecosystem made of all the agrifood entrepreneurs and startups) is in full swing. Growth, particularly in France, where it reached 46% in 2020, and the United States, where it reached 47% in 2021, states the survey.
Dominating the market, Glovo is at the top of the list of Moroccan applications, with a 58% utilization rate among users of these services. According to the same report, this utilization percentage is higher among young individuals aged 25 to 34 (67%).
Jumia Food comes second, a Nigerian start-up that has a 41% utilization rate, with young people aged 18 to 24 being the most likely to use it (49%).
KAALIX and Jibli-m3ak are other applications that stand out with a cumulative usage rate of less than 1%.
Furthermore, the study specifies that the followers of these applications are distributed without surprise in Morocco’s most urbanized regions, with Casablanca on top of the list (34%), Rabat-Sale-Kenitra (17%), Fez-Meknes (12%), Marrakech-Safi (11%), Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima (9%), Béni-Mellal-Khénifra (6%), Souss-Massa (6%) and the rest of regions (5%).
source : Statista
The study’s research of users and non-users of meal delivery apps revealed distinct profiles, demonstrating on the one hand that 35% of consumers are young and single, with 41% aged 18-24 years old. 34% live in central Morocco, whereas 37% live in cities. 49% of the high and medium socio-professional classes.
On the other hand, the refractory profiles who do not use these food delivery apps are primarily seniors over 45 years old (11%), divorced (19%), north citizens (20%), south citizens (19%), with 7% primarily in rural areas, in addition to the modest socio-professional working class and low class (12%).
Within the same survey, users with obstacles using such apps indicated in a graph that 30% responded they prefer homemade, 25% prefer to go on site, 23% declare that their city or area is not covered, 11% never heard of these applications, 5% didn’t seem to be interested, 4% find it expensive, 4% call the restaurant directly, 3% suffers from lack of knowledge to use them while 8% do not know the restaurants.
Given that the frequency of use of these food delivery apps based on Sunergia’s survey
is occasional in 7 out of 10 cases, regular in 2 out of 10, and rare in the remaining cases, the predictable massive engagement that food delivery businesses might receive from consumers in the future will cause those businesses to expand, resulting in numerous key factors ranging from market dynamics to legal and regulatory issues determining the levels of success for the various players.
- Geographic competition among delivery apps will be a major battleground in the coming years.
- Rival apps will continue to compete for consumers, restaurants, and rivers in their respective markets, potentially leading to greater consolidation in time.
- The pressure on traditional restaurants could be tightened further by the rise of “dark kitchens” where restaurants have no front of the house for customers.
Economically, a German company specializing in market and consumer data called Statista highlighted the online food delivery market revenue in Morocco in a recent update of June 2022, a total of 301 million dollars where 239.70 million dollars is part of the Restaurant-to-Consumer Delivery revenue and a total of 61.31 million dollars as revenue of Platform-to-Consumer Delivery, predicting to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2022-2027) of 12.90%, resulting in a projected market volume of 552.20 million dollars by 2027.
source: Statista
Statista analysis thinks that since Pizza HUT launched the first-ever pizza online order back in 1994, online food delivery has become a billion-dollar business. Aggregator platforms like Glovo and Jumia Food have expanded all over the world through the sale of reliable infrastructure solutions and attractive commission rates for restaurants. Platform-to-Consumer Delivery companies like Uber Eats which is expanding worldwide operate a more cost-intensive business model but are taking care of the whole delivery logistics. Those companies have also gained track over the last years, especially in densely populated regions. Both models will likely converge with stronger competition between in-house and third-party solutions.
Additionally and within the same analysis, consumers of low income seem to make a fair rate percentage of 21.5% in the recent update of October 2021 compared to 29.9% of users of medium income, and 48.6% of users with high income. Gender-wise, males are more using food delivery services with a rate percentage of 52.1% compared to females with a rate percentage of 47.9%.
source : Statista