Millennials are fuelling Australia’s multi-billion dollar home delivery boom, according to new research from open location platform company, Here.
The findings come ahead of the first Home Delivery Asia Pacific conference, which will be held in Melbourne on 16 November. Through a survey of 1,000 Australians, Here discovered nine in 10 consumers aged 18 to 34 were using home delivery services, compared to less than half of over 55 year olds.
Food delivery services were the most popular category, with 75 per cent of respondents ordering from brands including Domino’s, Menulog, Deliveroo, Foodora and UberEats. More than half of millennials surveyed said they would request doorstep delivery when they were feeling ‘too lazy to leave the house’, while for 12 per cent, being engrossed in a Netflix binge was enough motivation to order in.
Deliveroo Australian country manager, Levi Aron, said his company is attempting to create the best food delivery experience in the world.
“We have a strong focus on innovation—from our backend technologies to optimise deliveries, to RooBox, a new concept we are introducing in Australia that allows restaurants to deliver outside of their typical areas,” he said.
“We are passionate about great food and ensuring that we deliver the millennial market—and beyond—the quality experience that they expect.”
Although consumers are using home delivery, the research also revealed that price remains a sticking point, with 27 per cent of Australians stating home delivery services are ‘overpriced’. Delivery issues also put consumers off.
Here APAC director, Brent Stafford, said navigation problems are a big challenge for companies offering home delivery, with consumers complaining of cold food and late arrivals.
“There are signs of delivery drivers and cyclists facing navigation and congestion challenges with half of Australians (49 per cent) complaining about late delivery, while a third (33 per cent) have received ‘compromised goods’ like cold food,” he explained.
“Solving the most common bugbear of late deliveries will be a key agenda item at the home delivery summit, because trust and reliability are really vital to the growth of the industry and future adoption of the almost infinite on-demand possibilities on offer to Australians.”
Stafford also said that forums like the Home Delivery conference are an important way for the industry to share ideas around innovative payment methods and the future of autonomous delivery with drones.
The survey showed young Australians are the most optimistic about drone delivery, with 24 per cent of millennials hoping it will help them receive their goods faster.
According to Ben Nowlan, co-founder and CEO of last mile logistics company Sherpa, the more consumers shift their purchasing behaviour to online, the more companies will reply on same day and express delivery services.
“One of the key inhibitors in this process right now is people, so in my opinion I see the future by necessity, containing drones and other automated fulfilment services,” he said. “Until then, Sherpa are focused as a business on how we maximise the liquidity of driver/vehicle capacity in the existing market.”
Areas for same day delivery include home delivered pharmaceuticals, with almost a quarter of Australians (24 per cent) stating they would like to avoid the chemist queue. About 15 per cent of Victorians also wish there was an app for espresso delivery.
Home Delivery Asia Pacific will take place in Melbourne on 16 November at the Automotive Centre of Excellence. Find out more here.