Despite social distancing food is one need that cannot be negated. Coronavirus is not only a threat to health. The novel virus is also crippling several businesses. From movie chains to luxury retailers, all are getting affected alike.
Analytics show that if the Coronavirus situation worsens in America as it has done in the rest of the world, the earning of numerous consumer-facing companies will drop severely. This is because eventually, more and more people will be forced to stay at home.
However, for the companies that have food delivery weaved into their business model, the tale may be a bit bright. This is because their bottom lines could potentially move in the opposite direction. This factor is underscored by the market experts who point out that customers still need to eat even if they stay at home.
As the Coronavirus situation escalates, already an increasing number of Americans are using the internet for their grocery shopping and also for making their meal plans.
The vice president and the food industry advisor, The NPD Group, David Portalatin, pointed out that more Americans are using the internet for their grocery shopping and also for preparing their meal plans. And that this has been the trend much before Coronavirus concerns.
Some of the ways through which people can order food from home include Amazon Prime, Uber Eats, Fresh Direct, Walmart Grocery, or Stop & Shop’s Peapod, just to name a few.
Portalatin pointed out that just in the last 30 days, about 21% of Consumers in the U.S have ordered edible groceries and perishables online. That’s a 3% increase from the previous year.
Portalatin noted, “It is reasonable to conclude that if we were to have a serious outbreak here, it would be an acceleration of the previous trend.”
In China, where so far there have been about 80,761 Coronavirus infections and 3,136 deaths, there is evidence that people are relying more on food delivery. An NDP data pointed out that the spending on food deliveries has increased by20% since last year.