Just Eat orders soared by an impressive 58% in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The takeaway delivery group saw delivery orders in the UK jump by 387% in Q4 compared to the same period in 2019, as people spent the festive period at home amid tighter lockdown restrictions.
Jitse Groen, chief executive of Just Eat Takeaway.com, said: “The fourth quarter of 2020 marks our third consecutive quarter of order growth acceleration. Our investment programme is very successful and has led to significant market share gains in most of our countries.”
“In 2021, we will continue to invest in price leadership, improving our service levels and expanding our offering to restaurants and consumers,” he added.
Global orders at Just Eat increased by 57% and the total Q4 revenues rose over 60% to between €720m (£643m) and €740m (£661m).
Dan Thomas, Senior Analyst at Third Bridge, commented on the results: “Conditions this year were supportive of better operating performance with customers making more frequent orders, larger in size, and at a higher density which potentially means that riders weren’t travelling so far per delivery.
“An expanded delivery capability should enable Just Eat to bring on fresh inventory to the platform, which had heretofore largely relied on restaurants that could fulfil their own orders. Just Eat looks to be taking the fight to large, dense urban centres where Deliveroo and UberEats have typically enjoyed more dominant market positions.”
“Uber Eats and Deliveroo have both been investing in voucher driven customer acquisition, which has an impact on average order profitability over time. A key unknown for 2020 will be the scale with which consumers adopt grocery. All three platforms will be keen to capitalise on the category’s growth during 2020, especially as grocers have struggled to scale their own delivery capabilities. Another important factor will be the performance of the newly acquired Grubhub business in 2021 and beyond,” he added.
In June, the group agreed to buy Grubhub, which means the combined group will be the biggest food delivery company outside of China.
Shares in Just Eat Takeaway.com are -4.53% at 8.658,00 (0904GMT).