CHICAGO — A recent survey of customers on Vroom Delivery, an e-commerce platform specific to the convenience-store industry, indicated that 80.6% of delivery customers would not have otherwise visited the same store in-person to make a purchase had home delivery not been available.
Of those customers that would not have visited the store, 27% said they would have ordered online from a competitor, 13% would have driven to a competitor’s store, 53% would simply not purchased anything at all, and 6% would have still visited the same brand but at a different physical store.
Of the 19.4% of customers that would have otherwise driven to the same store to pick up the order, the average delivery transaction size of these customers was nearly $45, far larger than the average in-store transaction of less than $9, according to Vroom.
Customers in the poll were also asked their primary reasons for ordering delivery. Fifty-one percent said delivery was simply more convenient than driving to the store. Other significant reasons included safety concerns due the pandemic (39%), lack of transportation or inability to drive at the time the order was placed (29%) and health and mobility issues (14%). Bad weather, young children and inability to leave during the workday were also frequently mentioned by customers.
Over a quarter of all five-star reviews on Vroom Delivery specifically mention the consumer’s interaction with the driver as their primary reason for their positive experience. Vroom Delivery is a platform in which stores primarily use their own staff for deliveries.
When consumers have an issue with an order on delivery platforms, 62% blame both the business and the delivery service. For those stores that use third parties for the fulfillment, this can be a significant risk to their brands as they are unable to correct poor customer service.
Vroom’s data also shows a surprising side benefit of branded delivery as it relates to advertising effectiveness on social media. Ads that show employee drivers in their company uniforms tend to outperform ads that do not show the delivery personnel or that use stock footage by more than two times. It also increases engagement of ads by more than three times, as consumers often recognize the individual in the ad and are more likely to comment or share on social media.
Founded in 2016 with headquarters in Chicago, Vroom Delivery is a full-stack ecommerce solution for convenience stores.
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