Restaurant delivery apps do not cannibalize in-store visits, according to a new report from data insights firm Sense360.
Sense360 tracked more than 21 million anonymous full-service restaurant and quick-service restaurant visits to measure frequency of visits both before and after downloading third-party delivery apps such as UberEats, GrubHub and Postmates and found there is no evidence that delivery apps drive significant, short-term drops in visitation.
In one example, upon analysis of McDonald’s customers who downloaded the UberEats app when the burger giant tested delivery in Florida, Sense360 found that restaurant chain did not experience any noticeable visitation decrease among the UberEats users.
The study found that the unique visitation patterns of delivery app users are most often driven by extrinsic characteristics, such as geographic locations, persona and socioeconomics, more than the apps themselves. Unsurprisingly, people with delivery apps installed on their phones are more likely to live in top metro areas such as New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Compared to customers who do not use delivery apps, the app users tend to be of higher income, and visit fine-dining restaurants two-and-half times more often.
Other key findings include:
- Consumers with delivery apps installed on their phonevisit QSR and fast-casual restaurants five percent less than people without delivery apps.
- Delivery app users who frequent QSRstend to visit newer and higher-priced concepts such as Chipotle and Starbucks more often than traditional fast food locations such as McDonalds or Hardees.
For this study, Sense360 tracked 21 million QSR and fast casual visits from June 2016 through April 2017, including 1.1 million visits from users with delivery apps installed.