The importance of convenience in governing the future direction of digital retailing has been underlined with the news that online food ordering service hungryhouse.co.uk has moved into profit.
Some 11,000 UK restaurants use hungryhouse.co.uk to enable customers to order from them online. Using the site, customers can find a restaurant, read reviews and order home delivery.
In 2012, hungryhouse.co.uk became part of Berlin-based Delivery Hero, which also operates across Europe, in Asia, Australasia and south America.
In the UK, hungryhouse.co.uk now sees orders worth more than £300,000 a day from more than 10,000 restaurant partners, and says mobile ordering has played a large part in that. In particular, it puts growth of 115% in the last six months down to increased use of its mobile apps.
“We were the first in the sector to launch a food ordering app and our strong mobile presence has played a big part in our success,” said Shane Lake, co-founder of hungryhouse. “Since our merger with Delivery Hero we have seen our market share expand considerably in the UK. Achieving profitability means we can now grow even faster.”
The news comes fast in the wake of IMRG-Capgemini analysis that found mobile was now behind all ecommerce growth, reflecting the convenience that handheld devices that are always on and connected now offer shoppers, whether they are on the go or simply unwilling to leave the comfort of their sofas. Expect to see more retailers making mobile their priority in coming months, especially if Tesco’s move into tablet production broadens still further the number of people who own, an use, mobile devices.
