Technology and food are two things that have become more and more interlinked in the past few years. Grocery shopping, dining out and staying on track with your daily diet have all been made easier with the use of smart phones.
Smart phones have changed the way we view food and has made meal time a lot easier. From cooking apps, to recipe apps, to mobile apps for specific restaurants, to Wellness apps that regulate your diet based on your health, apps for your favorite supermarkets, third party delivery platform apps like UberEats, etc., the list goes on. Supermarket giant Kroger had even given customers’ the option of using the grocery retailer’s “Scan, Bag, Go” app to scan the barcode of items they wished to purchase with their smart phones for the company’s new cashier-less service. Smart phone apps have truly changed the game in the food industry.
Not just smart phones, but the iPhone specifically is a game changer. According to Similarweb, a data insights company that offers reports on any website or app, the first top ten ranked apps for the iPhone in the Food and Drink sector are Chick-Fil-A, McDonald’s, Uber Eats: Food Delivery, DoorDash: Order Food Delivery, GrubHub: Local Food Delivery, Starbucks, Domino’s Pizza, Postmates: Food Delivery, Sonic Drive-in and Papa John’s Pizza. All of these apps offer a convenient way for the consumer to get what he or she wants.
Apple is always coming out with new versions of the iPhone that are faster, advanced and more convenient than its previous iPhone. For example, the new iPhone Xs and iPhone Xr, the latest editions from Apple, claim to offer Gigabit-class LTE superfast download speeds, which helps with downloading food apps and making orders quickly.
Preferences of food delivery apps for smart phones based on location
According to a survey that The Manifest did on more than 500 smart phone owners, they found that users prefer food delivery apps with better restaurant options and that Starbucks has the most popular restaurant loyalty app. The survey revealed that nearly one-quarter of smartphone owners (24%) regularly use food delivery apps, such as Postmates and Uber Eats and half of smartphone owners (50%) use branded restaurant loyalty apps, such as the McDonald’s or Domino’s apps. Starbucks has the most popular (48%) restaurant loyalty rewards app.
The survey also found that food delivery app preferences were based on location, with the Northeast at the top with a 30%, the South at a 25%, West at a 21% and the Midwest at a 19%.
For food retailers, supermarkets, restaurants and delivery services, offering a mobile app for the iPhone and keeping up with consumer’s trends and preference is a crucial part of not just offering convenient solutions or gaining the customers awareness, but of also gaining their brand loyalty.