Food Delivery Putting Traditional Stores on the Line

• 28 July 2020
• Local News
• 5585 Views

By Eric Wong Chon Lap

Online food delivery services were almost non-existent in Cambodia a few years back. However, consumers nowadays are able to have their favourite food delivered to their doorsteps via online food delivery applications.

Currently, consumers can order anything ranging from burgers, bubble tea or fried chicken from large chains, major brand-name restaurants or small shops such as SME or even street food stalls, thanks to the advancement of technology and the rapid global penetration of e-commerce.

Online food delivery has proven to be a successful business around the world and the popularity of online ordering in Cambodia is on a meteoric rise. Here in Phnom Penh, ordering food online is clearly a convenient solution for the locals in order to avoid traffic jams under the scorching weather, not to mention the current outbreak of COVID-19. Traditional food retailers have also reported growth in their food delivery business, which will slowly account for a bigger percentage of total restaurant business value in the future.

Online food delivery platforms in Cambodia such as E-Gets, foodpanda or NHAM24 offer applications with maximum convenience and transparency in ordering food. They not only enable users to quickly browse through menus, prices and reviews etc. but also allow users to track the progress of their food deliveries in real-time. Furthermore, these online delivery platforms benefit users and enable them to explore many food choices offered by local restaurants which consumers may have never even knew existed.

These online platforms are also competing aggressively among themselves, with many marketing strategies such as promotions, low delivery fees, and reducing delivery time. However, delivery services in Cambodia today are limited to only Phnom Penh, so these players should also compete to steal market share outside Phnom Penh in the future when demand is up.

In the past, many restaurants used to be reluctant to join or concerned that their branding would be affected. But for survival’s sake, they are forced to try food delivery. As revenue has slumped compared to the pre-COVID-19 crisis, these delivery platforms and also takeaways will definitely improve sales for restaurant owners in the short term and provide them with a lifeline to survive in this current tough economic market.

Eric Wong has extensive experiences in the field of property consulting and development sectors, primarily within the emerging markets of Southeast Asia. His previous role involved with assisting in the development of project budgets to ensure the operations are within cost restraints, developing and executing projects for the assigned market areas etc. From the property consulting prospective, he has lead market research assignments inclusive of providing descriptive, exploratory market research and analysis reports within the office, residential, hotel and retail segments in both quantitative and qualitative methods to determine suitable development types, scale and product mix, and address property-related matters from project positioning to absorption rates, phasing and pricing and marketing strategies etc.

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