Despite being one of the smallest countries, Singapore is among the most technically advanced and the richest countries in the world. And this is the main reason why Singapore is considered one of the best places for entrepreneurs and a popular place to roll out new services.

But setting up a successful online food delivery marketplace in Singapore is quite challenging. Streets of Singapore usually have a variety of available options-all within a few minute walk from every condo. And because of their modernized and very organized traffic conditions, heading out for a meal is relatively easy. But still, Singapore is home to a large number of foodies which means there is always the possibility of online food delivering marketplaces succeeding. These currently includes the services of Foodpanda, Deliveroo, and UberEATS.

Foodpanda:

Foodpanda was one of the first online food delivery marketplaces to launch their services in Singapore. In a short span of 4 years, Foodpanda had acquired the status of industry leader of the online food delivery marketplace. Foodpanda is an ideal marketplace for foodies with services ranging from casual dining to fast food. The standard of their quality and services are pretty high and it has to be because it is constantly being challenged by new and upcoming online food delivery marketplaces like Deliveroo and UberEATS.

Deliveroo:

Deliveroo, after successfully procuring positive feedback from various regions across Europe, decided to launch its services in one of the most active hubs of South East Asia, Singapore. The arrival of Deliveroo shook up the online food ordering marketplace of Singapore because of its charm and appealing stature; Deliveroo focused mainly on gourmet restaurants. And to quickly spread their popularity, they specifically targeted offices of major global companies, offering free catering services to the likes of Facebook and LinkedIn.

UberEATS:

In February of 2013, Uber chose Singapore as the first country to introduce their Taxi ride services in the region of South East Asia. And similarly, in May 2016, they chose Singapore again to launch the Online Food Delivery Services of UberEATS.  For now, UberEATS services are only available in the Central Business District, River Valley, Tanjong Pagar, and the Orchard. But they will be looking for ways to expand their services.

Delivery Services:

Foodpanda:

Delivery services are one area in which Foodpanda has struggled in the past, but with the introduction of its new “Premium Delivery Service” it appears that things are taking a turn for the better. Premium Delivery Services offers the customers a delivery of their order within 60 minutes and costs only half of its previous delivery price. Emma Heap, the current Foodpanda Singapore Managing Director, claims that Foodpanda has delivered the food within 30 minutes of the order throughout the year 2015, but still needs to work harder on improving its average delivery time. The delivery charges of Foodpanda varies with respect to the restaurants.

Deliveroo:

Foodpanda might be more popular in the region of Singapore, but Deliveroo certainly offers better delivery services. Since its establishment, Deliveroo had been delivering food within 32 minutes on average and is always looking to improve their delivery services. Deliveroo charge their customers a flat delivery charge of $3 per order above $25 and a surcharge of $5 for orders below $25.

UberEATS:

UberEATS had just launched its services in Singapore and has promised that they would deliver the food within 35 minutes of a customer’s order. UberEATS claims that they will use the services of both current Uber Drivers and their own fleet of motorcycle riders to make this possible. UberEATS delivery charges are same as that of their competitors- $3 on average- but for now they have decided to waive the fee to help increase their popularity and customers.

Payment Options:

Foodpanda:

Foodpanda offers its customers two payment options. These two options include cash-on- delivery and online payments through PayPal. Although this poses a problem as some of the local restaurants working along with Foodpanda don’t have the online payment services. But, Foodpanda claims that soon the online payment option will be available for all of their restaurants.

Deliveroo:

Unlike its competitors, Deliveroo doesn’t have the services of cash-on-delivery. Deliveroo only contains a list of diverse and high-quality restaurants in which most of the payments are made through credit cards which are comparatively safer and securer than cash on delivery. Another reason why they don’t support the cash-on-delivery is because they think it’s an outdated method which doesn’t go well along with their sophisticated and modernized ways. This, however, may pose a challenge in Asian markets like Singapore where most of the population does not have credit cards.

UberEAT:

UberEat also offers their customers two payments including online payment option or cash-on-delivery. The delivery fee is shared between the UberEat and the driver.

Popular Features:

Foodpanda:

Foodpanda is the current leader of the online food marketplace in Singapore. They offer a wide range of services and along with their services they have maintained high standards of quality. Some of most prominent features of Foodpanda are:

• Various Cuisines:

Foodpanda currently has one of the widest ranges of cuisines among all of the online food delivering marketplaces. Particularly, in Singapore foodies can order food and beverages from 42 different types of cuisines.

 

• Foodpanda Delivery Drone:

Foodpanda has recently conducted a test on delivering meals via unmanned aircraft or drones in Singapore. If they could find a way to implement this in the near future then this will give them a major edge over their competing food delivering marketplaces.

• Minimum Delivery:

According to Emma Heaps, the people of Singapore are more inclined towards the minimum order level than the delivery cost. Foodpanda delivery cost varies along with restaurants, but they are always looking for ways to decrease their minimum order level which will help in increasing their popularity among consumers.

• Foodpanda Breakfast:

Foodpanda has also launched the services of delivering breakfast to the offices or homes of Singapore residents. The recent upshift in their delivery time had made it possible to attain the services of delivering breakfast.

Deliveroo:

Deliveroo’s primary objective is to bring the high quality restaurants to the homes of its customers. Unlike its competitors, Deliveroo believes more in quality than quantity, this is the main reason why Deliveroo only offers the services of the best restaurants of Singapore, not merely hundreds of random food options. Tristian Torres, General Manager of Deliveroo Singapore, believes that the people of Singapore are more inclined towards the quality and will willingly pay more for premium services. The popular features that make Deliveroo stand out among its competitors are:

• Super Easy User-Interface:

Both the mobile app’s and the desktop website user-interface of Deliveroo is quite easy and user-friendly. Deliveroo contains several filters on their website and app which refine data for the foodies and display only the best possible results.

• Wide Range of Restaurants:

Deliveroo offers their customers with the services of more than 1300 restaurants from different parts of Singapore. Deliveroo is always striving to add the new premium restaurants to their arsenal comprising of healthy salad joints, snack kiosks, and burger places.

• Advance Order Feature:

Deliveroo offers the ultimate service of advance delivery to their users through which the customer can set-up their order in advance. This feature has really increased their popularity as it makes it possible for customers to plan their dinners, lunches, or even breakfasts in advance.

 

• Deliveroo Breakfast:

 

In February 2016, Deliveroo launched its breakfast delivery service. The breakfast delivery services are available from 8 A.M to 11 A.M in the Central Business District of Singapore. The minimum order required for breakfast delivery is US$ 12.70.

UberEATS:

It has only been a few days since the launch of UberEAT in Singapore. Solidifying their worth in the online food marketplace of Singapore was never going to be easy but UberEATS can take encouragement from the popularity of their Uber driving services and has the added benefit of using their huge vehicle network to enhance user’s delivery experience.

• 10 Minutes Delivery:

UberEATS had announced that their average delivery time would be around 35 minutes. In addition to this, they also offer  a 10 minutes delivery services to some areas of Singapore. Their 10 Minute instant delivery service is only offered between 11 A.M to 2 P.M during weekdays.

 

• UberEATS Simplicity:

 

UberEATS wants to apply the features that made Uber famous to their new standalone UberEATS franchise. One of the most important features of Uber is its simplicity. UberEATS plans on making a user-friendly and simple user-interface for the customers of Singapore.

Conclusion:

For now, it’s quite clear to say that Foodpanda is still ruling the roost in Singapore and Deliveroo is clearly their closest competitor. Despite being two of the leading services in the online food delivery marketplace, they are quite a bit different than one another.

Foodpanda focuses on increasing their tally of restaurants and expanding their services more and more. On the contrary, Deliveroo is far more refined in their approach and aims to only target a selected number of restaurants that promise to be a high standard of quality. And high standards usually comes with a higher price tag which makes Deliveroo more suitable for higher middle-class people, while marketplaces like Foodpanda targets every single class of people.

UberEATS had just joined this race, though with their near limitless resources, it would not be far-fetched to consider them  a potential threat to these marketplaces. But, to really compete with existing successful food services,  UberEATS has got to come up with something completely original, attracting, and appealing that can satisfy the inner food demands of local Singaporean Foodies.