Four years after it launched in Kenya, Uber Eats has expanded offering across multiple categories, including food, groceries, alcohol, beauty and wellness, and more to take on competition from players such as Glovo, Jumia Food, GoBEBA among others.
Now available in Nakuru and Mombasa, Uber Eats has seen orders grow by 5.2% year-on-year (YoY), with gross bookings growing by 20.7% YoY. This was largely driven by a steady increase in first-time consumers, but also by deliberate upscaling and diversification of the Uber Eats platform through working with key restaurant partners and the addition and expansion of grocery and convenience orders. Since 2013, Uber and Uber Eats have collectively reached over 30 million riders and eaters in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“We are excited to be celebrating four years in Kenya. It has been phenomenal to see the impact that we have had on consumers, delivery people and restaurants. We initially began by having only restaurants in 2018 but have since expanded this to new categories with the goal of increasing engagement and loyalty with our platform. Our category selection currently has multiple key restaurant players in the industry, supermarkets such as Chandarana, pharmacies such as Good Life, flower vendors, gas shops, water delivery shops and – even pet food delivery, while working with a range of partners that cater to every pocket ” says Kui Mbugua, General Manager, Uber Eats Kenya.
The latest consumer trends from Uber Eats trends have shown that consumers use the platform to order a variety of items to their doorstep ranging from cauliflower, and aluminium foil all the way through to hot wings and baking flour.
In 2021, the smallest order was one banana, while our largest grocery order was over 12 items which included flavoured milk, long-life milk, chocolate, energy drinks, and coffee, to name a few. Having delivered the most expensive food order worth KES 28,520 containing Avocado Burger, Bacon Avocado Cheeseburger, Beef Burger, Crispy Chicken Strips, Hot Wings and Masala Fries, Uber Eats has proven that people are able to find diverse food options on the app to suit their evolving tastes.
Since its launch, the number of partners signing up for Uber Eats has grown day by day. As a testament to the diversity of cuisines available on the app, Uber Eats trends indicate that the top four most frequented cuisines in Kenya include: American, Indian and Burgers and Pizza (Fast food).
Besides positively impacting the ordering habits of an increasing number of customers, Uber Eats has also made a striking change at eateries across the country with the increasing growth of “dark kitchens”. Uber Eats has also witnessed entrepreneurs making use of the app in building their businesses to reach new customers and to get data on which items to focus on, and other information to improve their in-store and delivery operations.