British startup founded in 2013, Deliveroo is a history of home delivery of meals (and shopping). To provide this service, its platform integrates 183,000 restaurants in around ten countries and relies on 135,000 couriers.
However, competition in this market is tough. Deliveroo, established in France since 2015, is therefore developing other sources of revenue, particularly advertising. The startup offers brands (and not just food) the opportunity to benefit from its audience through different formats (display, in-app, in-app sponsored products, emailing, etc.).
Order tracking: a monetizable page
“We also offer product sampling on our dark kitchens based in Paris and the region. This allowed us to completely diversify. And for several months we have seen the interest of non-food brands in Deliveroo,” declared Sofia Schäfer, Deliveroo Media & E-commerce Country Lead France, at a Hub Institute conference.
Its media products attract digital players such as Amazon, Disney+, Canal+, Deezer and Samsung. The food startup is therefore positioning itself on the booming retail media market. According to the latest SRI ePub observatory, this sector grew by 24% in 2023 to 1.1 billion euros.
To serve this demand, Deliveroo is collaborating with Rokt, which provides external management and additional advertisers by focusing “on the post-purchase experience”, specifies Steven Mohl, Director of Strategic Partnerships Europe.
In the United Kingdom and France, the agency uses its AI technology to display advertisements on 30% of Deliveroo traffic. The manager defends the need for Web players to “diversify their channels”, even more so in a context of “decline” of third-party cookies.
30% of traffic open to other advertisers
In order to target non-food advertisers, the startup has developed a specific format called “non-endemic”. The advertisements are thus displayed on the order tracking page of the application, a page consulted on average 5 times by the user after their order.
This page represents “a fairly high moment of attention”, underlines Sofia Schäfer. This format also has the advantage for brands of “redirecting outside the app”. The media specialist also highlights the CPM operation “which allows you to control your costs and have a certain flexibility depending on the desired shares of voice.”
The contract between Rokt and Deliveroo was formalized in January 2024 and the third-party agency hopes to increase traffic to 100% compared to 30% currently. The relationship is part of a test & learn mode aimed in particular at identifying the most effective placements and content.
The Deliveroo Plus subscriber: a valuable audience
During this first stage, priority is given to non-endemic offers, in particular to generate income. The two partners are also considering integrating internal offers, for example to promote the Deliveroo Plus subscription.
The purpose: relevance (and therefore advertising effectiveness). And this relevance can translate, depending on, into an internal or external offer, or “sometimes nothing at all”, indicates Steven Mohl. The ambition for Deliveroo is also to offer “more flexibility and targeting”, for example to Deliveroo Plus subscribers.
“We know that they consume more, with greater repurchase than for other consumers,” declares Sofia Schäfer, who is considering targeting specific offers for this high-potential audience for her online service.