Orders remain high for Deliveroo despite eased lockdowns

An easing from lockdown does not appear to have suppressed the appetite for takeaway deliveries, new figures from Deliveroo suggested on Thursday.

The food delivery giant said that customers placed 3.4 orders on average per month in the last three months of 2021.

It is a hike from the three orders per month that customers were using Deliveroo to place in the first three months of 2020, most of which was before lockdown.

It is even higher than the 3.2 orders that were being placed during the height of lockdown in 2020.

The figures, released on Thursday, show for the first time the full effect of 2020 and 2021, two transformative years for the company when customers were stuck at home for large stretches.

It forced many to turn to deliveries, both from restaurants and supermarkets, for the first time.

Over that period the average number of customers who actively used Deliveroo rose from 3.6 million to eight million, around half in the UK and Ireland.

Sales also soared.

Last year the company’s gross transaction value (GTV), its preferred measure, rose 70% to £6.6 billion.

The number of orders grew 73% to 301 million.

“We finished 2021 with a strong Q4 performance, and our full year GTV growth of 70% in constant currency was at the top end of the previously-upgraded guidance we provided,” said chief executive Will Shu.

“I’d like to thank the Deliveroo team, our restaurant and grocery partners and our riders for their focus and commitment in what has been another extraordinary year.

“Since the business was founded in 2013, Deliveroo’s focus has always been to deliver great experiences to our consumers, help our partners to grow, and provide further opportunities for riders.

“I am proud of what we achieved in 2021; despite a challenging backdrop, we continued to strengthen our customer proposition, widen our customer base and execute against our strategy.”