A recent free delivery campaign by the Robinhood food delivery application during the recent COVID-19 lockdown in July provided a great opportunity for consumers to enjoy ordering food via the app. In a recent “Secret Recipes and Survival Strategies for the F&B Industry” online seminar held on August 10, 2021, Mr. Srihanath Lamsam, or ‘Khun Big’, Managing Director of app operator Purple Ventures, shared insights about the campaign and tips to boost sales via the app.

From an alternative to a way to survive
 

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the exponential growth of the food delivery business in Bangkok, so significant that it is no longer just an alternative channel for eateries but a way to survive and grow every day in terms of cost management, business operations, and profitability, kitchen operations, and job opportunities for kitchen staff and riders. Food delivery has allowed the overall food and beverage (F&B) industry to continue amid the current hardship. As for the Robinhood food delivery app’s free delivery campaign during the July 2021 lockdown, Khun Big was proud to say that the number of food orders during the campaign’s four weeks jumped by 7-8 times. That is, the typical 20,000 orders a day jumped to almost 200,000 orders every day. To catch up with that demand, the app needed to urgently increase the number of riders by some 2,000 and provide them with daily online rider training sessions. Now the app has some 14,000 active riders among a total of 26,000 available riders. This is a job opportunity allowing riders and eateries to deliver happiness in the form of food to customers, creating a mutually sharing and caring ecosystem. Among sharing and caring scenes, we have seen eateries provide seating and refreshing drinks for riders, riders help eateries pack food for delivery, and customers order extra food for riders, and many more examples of thoughtful behavior.     

Learning from stats and adding value
 

Since the app’s launch on October 26, 2021, Khun Big has seen different food and beverage business operation, models. The app’s recent free delivery campaign has led to growth in the number of riders by 2.5 times, 150,000 eateries on the app, and almost 2 million customers from the previous 1 million. Khun Big shared with us some of the things he has learned from reviewing Robinhood app statistics: 

1. Peak times are lunch and dinner hours, which are similar across food delivery businesses. Specifically, the Robinhood app’s peak times are lunch hours between 10:30 am – 1:30 pm and dinner hours between 4:30 – 7:30 pm. To evenly distribute revenue since the launch and to help eateries and riders maintain orders throughout the day, the Robinhood app has offered discounts on delivery fees, starting from 9 baht for off-peak hours. As for the recent COVID-19 lockdown, the app has continued offering support, with a campaign offering a 10-baht delivery fee for all food orders within 5 kilometers, while riders still receive their delivery fees in the full amount as usual.   
   
   
2. The number of food orders peaks during weekends – from Friday to Sunday and drops on Mondays. “Salmon” is the most searched word on the app, followed by “yum” or a spicy salad category, and the trendy/hyped food categories ‘coffee’ and ‘drinks’, respectively. Eatery owners can develop promotions based on this kind of data to better respond to consumer behavior.
   
   
3. The top three areas in terms of the number of food orders are Chatuchak, Latprao, and Wattana. Factors behind such figures include the availability of famous well-established eateries and restaurants in shopping malls, coupled with residential zones in those areas. As for office areas before lockdown periods, food orders were usually placed between Monday – Friday. During weekends, food orders tend to be from residential zones, including suburban Bangkok areas. To maintain sales every day and increase sales opportunities, eateries may need to develop menus and promotions based on customer needs and opt for cloud kitchen operations to expand their delivery capacity to cover more zones.  

Boosting sales with Logistics Subsidies (LS)

According to the Robinhood app’s policy, no gross profit (GP) fee is charged to merchants and there is no advertising. As a result, instead of showing restaurant locations based on advertising fees, the app shows personalized restaurants near a user’s location first to encourage support for small eateries near them.  

Merchants can also boost sales by joining Robinhood’s logistics subsidy (LS) program. The LS program features food and delivery fee discounts from merchants to customers via the Robinhood app. Saving costs on GP fees, merchants can attract customers with the LS program instead. According to statistics, the LS program has helped boost daily orders by 3-4 times as well as led to many repeat orders. Restaurants offering discounts are shown first on the Robinhood app as well.        

Continue to learn more about ‘Four Tips for Hot Selling’ on the Robinhood app at https://www.scb.co.th/th/personal-banking/stories/business-maker/robinhood-shop-app.html

Join the Robinhood app as a merchant

F&B operators of any size, with or without a shopfront, individual or juristic persons, can register as a merchant on the Robinhood app with SCB savings or current account. To learn more about merchant registration, visit https://www.robinhood.in.th/merchant/

To learn more, you can contact Robinhood by:

• Calling the Robinhood Delivery call center at 02 - 777-7564
• Facebook Page: Robinhood Delivery

Source: A session on “A Recipe to Boost Sales via the Robinhood Food Delivery App” in an online seminar entitled “Secret Recipes and Survival Strategies for the F&B Industry” hosted by SCB SME in August 10, 2021.