Rapid delivery is the newest trend for the food delivery industry, with new apps popping up in 2020 to satisfy the needs of people stuck at home. With the pandemic not subsiding in 2021, these apps skyrocketed in usage and valuation, with $14 billion pumped into the industry by VC firms last year.
What separates rapid delivery from the previous generation of apps is time, with most of the apps promising to be at the door in under 20 minutes. To do this, businesses rent out space for “dark stores”, strategically located in and around cities. These stores are stocked full of convenience store-type items, such as bread, milk, snacks and toiletries.
Grocery delivery has been available for a few years now, with Instacart leading the way in the US and most major supermarkets offering time slots in the UK.
Deliveroo, DoorDash and Uber Eats all offer grocery delivery on their apps, but the difference is delivery can take over an hour, as store assistants need to check the items are in stock, find them, pack and then hand off to the rider. Dark stores, which stock a limited amount of items and have no customers, make inventory management and packing far more efficient.
For some people, this might seem excessive, but there appears to be a market for these types of apps. Gorillas, GoPuff and Getir all saw their revenues more than triple in 2021, to $220 million, $1 billion and $1 billion, respectively. Venture capital firms also see this as the future of delivery, pumping more than $14 billion into over 50 companies in 2021.
In terms of profit, these new apps suffer even more than the older generation of Uber and DoorDash, which are both still unprofitable. A report by The Information said that New York-based rapid delivery service JOKR was losing $159 on every order in the US, a mind-boggling loss.
Getir and GoPuff have both claimed that they are profitable in locations they have been active in for longer than a certain period, but have kept the exact financials vague. We should expect that for the next few years, these apps will remain unprofitable, as they consolidate through acquisition and continue to expand into new territories.
We have collected data and statistics on rapid delivery apps. Read on below to find out more. Want to dive deeper into the food delivery app industry? Check out our +100 page report
Key Rapid Delivery Statistics
- Rapid delivery apps made $20.4 billion in 2023, an increase of 10.8% on the year prior
- Uber Eats is the lead service in Europe, after Getir exit from Europe
- The two most downloaded rapid delivery apps are both based in India
- GoPuff has been valued the highest out of all rapid delivery apps, at $15 billion
Food Delivery App Report 2024
Want to learn more about the food delivery app industry? Our Food Delivery App report includes breakdowns of all of the top apps by revenue, GMV and orders, alongside regional market share statistics, usage, and downloads.
Top Rapid Delivery Apps
| Title | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/getir-statistics/ | Getir | Based in Istanbul, Getir was one of the first rapid delivery apps to take off and was the most downloaded delivery app in Europe in 2021 |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/gopuff-statistics/ | GoPuff | GoPuff leads the way in North America, offering its service to 650 cities in the US and most major cities in the UK |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/gorillas-statistics/ | Gorillas | Launched in 2020, Gorillas took advantage of everyone being at home and expanded rapidly into nine countries, including the US |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/doordash-statistics/ | DoorDash | DoorDash has started trials of rapid delivery in the US and acquired Spanish delivery app Glovo to expand into Europe |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/uber-eats-statistics/ | Uber Eats | Uber is also trialing rapid delivery in France, alongside partnerships in the US and UK |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/instacart-statistics/ | Instacart | The most popular grocery delivery app in the US, which is currently trialing rapid service in a select few areas |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/deliveroo-statistics/ | Deliveroo | Deliveroo launched Hop in September 2021, which is available in central London through a partnership with Morrisons |
| https://www.goflink.com/en-FR/ | Flink | Another German rapid delivery service, which was the most downloaded delivery app in Germany last year |
| https://www.jokr.com/ | JOKR | Another NYC-based app which branched out into the Americas and some countries in Europe |
| https://about.rappi.com/ | Rappi | A delivery "super app" according to the creators, which has added rapid delivery to several cities in Latin America |
| https://tryzapp.com/ | Zapp | One of the few UK-based apps that hasn't been snapped up by GoPuff or Getir. competitive in London and Bristol |
Rapid Delivery App Revenue
Rapid delivery, which includes grocery delivery, generated $20.4 billion in 2023. The main hubs for this revenue come from China and the United States.
Rapid delivery app revenue 2018 to 2023 ($mm)
Rapid Delivery Market Share in Europe
Uber Eats is the most popular rapid delivery service in Europe, taking a lot of the market from Getir after it exited the continent.
Rapid delivery European market share 2023 (%)
Rapid Delivery Downloads by App
The most downloaded rapid delivery apps are from India: Blinkit and Zepto. Both gained over 25 million downloads last year.
Rapid delivery cumulative downloads by app 2023 (mm)
Rapid Delivery Valuations by App
GoPuff has the highest valuation out of all rapid delivery apps, at $15 billion, but with it struggling to maintain the same volume of sales in 2022 and 2023, it is unlikely it is valued as highly anymore.
Rapid delivery app valuations 2023 ($bn)
More Delivery App Data
- Gorillas Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Instacart Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Getir Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Gopuff Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Grubhub Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Postmates Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Food Delivery App Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- DoorDash Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Just Eat Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Deliveroo Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
