The proportion of Australians ordering take-away food online has surged, rising from 36 percent to 47 percent among those who made internet purchases last year, according to the 2017 Sensis eBusiness Report.
Driving the increase is the rise in smartphone ownership (up from 78 percent to 82 percent), with smartphones overtaking computers as the most common device to access the internet for the first time this year.
“Only a few years ago ordering take-away food meant flicking through a bunch of old menus, phoning through an order to a noisy restaurant, then sitting in hope that the food would eventually turn up and you’d get what you asked for. Intense competition has changed the industry and people can now order their meal in a couple of touches on their smartphone and track its delivery right to their door,” says Sensis digital manager Alice Mentiplay.
“We all know that it can be exhausting cooking after a long day at work, or a big night out with family or friends. The growth in food apps such as UberEats is driving more people to ditch cooking for the convenience of take-away delivered to the dinner table or couch.
“Office workers and commuters are even jumping the queue when ordering their morning coffee or lunch on the run, with apps like Skip saving precious time as people’s tolerance for waiting has hit rock bottom.”
According to the report, airline tickets, clothing and hotel rooms again emerged as the most common types of online purchases, with take-away food (up 11 points to 47 percent) moving into equal third place (with hotel rooms). Men and women are equally as likely to have ordered take-away food online, while consumers in NSW and the ACT order more food online. In the last 12 months, 55 percent of NSW consumers and 54 percent of consumers in the ACT have ordered food online, compared to just 33 percent in SA.
The upwards trend in online food ordering bucks an overall decline in the number of adult Australians making purchases online during the past year (56 percent, down 15 points).
Image credit: The Huffington Post
