Are Red Bull and bananas for breakfast making a comeback?

At the start of the year, Red Bull and bananas were the most frequently ordered items around breakfast time in certain areas of Dubai through talabat mart, our smart in-app grocery solution. However, the pandemic turned everyday life upside down and unsurprisingly led to more healthy consumer choices and by Q2 this unusual choice of breakfast was replaced by milk and eggs, and oranges. Being confined to their homes, with limited to none in-person interactions, exercise or travel, led to different and healthier (breakfast) consumer choices. 

Now that we are entering the pandemic’s recovery stages (and viable vaccines will hopefully soon become widely available), it will be interesting to see how consumer behaviour will evolve. Two things are certain, first, evolving consumer preferences will keep us on our toes, and secondly, the world has gone online, which has had a massive impact on e-commerce. 

From e-commerce to Q-Commerce with talabat mart

Traditional e-commerce revolutionized the delivery landscape through online ordering, using delivery trucks and mega warehouses to host a wide selection of the products you could find “offline”. Yet, the customer experience lagged behind with delivery times averaging between 3-5 business days and larger orders being encouraged. 

However, we understood consumers wanted to be able to order just a few grocery items faster, i.e. in 30 minutes or less. This is why we launched talabat mart within our app in Kuwait over a year ago - well before the pandemic started. talabat mart was our push into introducing Quick commerce (or “Q-commerce”) in the MENA region, which I believe is the next big thing. 

In essence, Q-commerce brings goods to customers almost instantly, whenever and wherever they need them. Through creating the value of speed, and at the same price point as a more traditional option, it really is the smart choice.

Amidst the pandemic we were able to respond to rising demand for delivery as people were encouraged to stay home. Bound with the convenience of speed and effortless ordering, this has had a lasting impact - lifestyles have changed and customer behavior. Speed and convenience is becoming more important than ever before.

Fast forward to the present day and now talabat customers in Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt can now enjoy having their groceries delivered to their doorstep. With over 40 stores available across those 6 countries, we’ve been able to offer a service which is arguably considered a ‘must-have’ as the world navigates through the recovery stages of the pandemic. 

Data, data, data… and affordability

Our data shows that there are customers who place the equivalent of 1 order per day through talabat mart. Add in the fact that we’ve delivered 60% of our orders in below 20 minutes - with the quickest delivery time being 7 minutes - and it's easy to paint the picture of how transformative talabat mart has been so far. 

As talabat mart grows to become a key part of everyday life, people are starting to realise that added levels of convenience do not mean paying a higher price. With lower costs tied to our offering, customers are able to as comfortably place an order for a full shop, or a  single-item. 

So what is next for talabat mart and Q-commerce?

Our talabat mart embodies the Q-commerce framework, setting the course of what consumers are already depending on from a convenience perspective. Based on a network of small delivery-only hubs that are scattered throughout our cities where we operate, groceries and other household essentials are delivered to our customers in 30 minutes or less, 24/7, following a few taps on their phone using the talabat app. And we have seen a surge in non-food grocery items, having delivered almost 50.000 nappies in the UAE in Q3 alone. Having a lot of young parents in talabat, I am being told there still is a lot of room for growth in this department. This is also why we're looking to expand our instant delivery offer to electronic gadgets, sports equipment, beauty products and much more in the near future. 

To make all of this happen, we’re relying on our innovative platform, the strong fleet we have built over the years and the massive local investments in technology we made to be the fastest and the most reliable option in the market.

Apart from the dedicated delivery-only hubs, traditional stores will be added to the mix. The beauty about Q-commerce is that it enables local SMEs to ship directly from their stores without the need to ship their products to central warehouses. A rider will show up, pick up a product from the local SME and deliver it directly to customers - presenting a win-win scenario for both local SMEs and nearby customers. 

In short, the pandemic triggered a paradigm shift in our behaviour, forcing an almost instant digitisation across the board affecting all parts of our everyday lives, from working to learning, form shopping to socialising. I believe Q-commerce will bring a paradigm shift in e-commerce driven by changing consumer behaviour and the continuous desire for instant gratification, and our data tells us that this shift is already happening. It will - however, remain to be seen if Red Bull and bananas will be making a comeback as the “breakfast of champions”  ;-)... Stay tuned!