Deliveroo Builds Loyalty With Subscriptions

Deliveroo has perhaps had a satisfying week when it comes to news.

First, the company announced that it was hiring more than a thousand full-time employees to accommodate the 650 percent increase in orders last year, with more than 300 tech-focused ones added to its London headquarters, and now it’s launching a subscription model.

Deliveroo Plus is launching first in six U.K. cities — Birmingham, Brighton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and York — for the pilot, or “trial,” program. No word on other cities just yet, or even venturing into other countries. The focus is on its most loyal customers, or building that base even further.

Currently, the non-subscription rate is a £2.50 charge in addition to the total on the order. However, now with Deliveroo Plus, for £8.99 each month (£89 annually), there won’t be the additional delivery charges. What it boils down to for consumers is if they order three times a month (or more) from Deliveroo, they might want to jump on that subscription and save money. If anything, that £8.99 is just the cost of another Pad Thai or medium-sized pizza, right?

Critics are likening it to Amazon Prime and other subscription services where the flat upfront rate tends to pay for itself quickly for the consumer and the eCommerce company reaps the benefit of loyalty and more.

“Ordering great food from great restaurants on Deliveroo is an increasingly big part of many people’s daily lives, and Deliveroo Plus is all about rewarding them,” Dan Warne, UK & Ireland Managing Director at Deliveroo, said in a statement, according to TechCrunch. “This new subscription service gives our customers an even better experience and even better value for money when they order with us.”

The competition, such as UberEATS, JustEat, GrubHub and other food delivery platforms may be watching to see if this takes off.