After less than a year, Just Eat might sell Grubhub: The news is the latest sign that the oversaturated food delivery industry is struggling.

Just Eat is looking to sell Grubhub less than a year after acquiring the company for $7.3 billion. While Zepto’s cash infusion signals that investors aren’t done with the space yet, it’s also a reflection of the opportunity they see in India’s highly competitive—and still relatively nascent—quick commerce market.

The District of Columbia recently sued Grubhub for fraudulent marketing during the pandemic in order to raise revenues. Trust deficit: 37% of consumers trust social media influencers over brands, with Gen Z and millennials twice as likely to trust influencers as boomers, per newly released Oracle data.

DoorDash was once again the most downloaded US food and drink app in 2021, racking up 37.0 million downloads, 5% fewer than in 2020. McDonald’s jumped to second on the list with 24.0 million downloads, 33% more than the year prior. Meanwhile, Uber Eats dropped to third place with 21.0 million downloads.

Just last week, the District of Columbia sued Grubhub for using deceptive marketing during the pandemic to boost profits. Also last week: Texas’ attorney general formally demanded documents from pharma companies, alleging deceptive advertising practices.

The pandemic led to an uptake in online food ordering that will likely stick: In the early days of the pandemic, third-party food delivery apps like Uber Eats and GrubHub helped restaurants maintain sales despite temporary closures—but the fees they charged were a sore spot for cash-strapped restaurants.

US digital sales of food and beverages from restaurants soared 123.8% last year, per eMarketer estimates. This massive increase was the result of more consumers using delivery services like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub amid lockdowns and restaurant closures.

eMarketer principal analysts Andrew Lipsman and Nicole Perrin discuss the most fortunate and unfortunate D2C companies during this coronavirus pandemic, and what they are doing to survive it. They then talk about Google helping retailers highlight curbside pickup, Uber's offer to buy GrubHub, the Media Ratings Council maybe taking Facebook's advertising badge of approval and what to make of some major retailers filing for bankruptcy.

Heather Freeland, vice president of marketing at Lyft, speaks with eMarketer vice president of business development Marissa Coslov on how the brand has pivoted its marketing priorities in response to shifting consumer behaviors, including partnering with Grubhub and offering free rides to the polls on election day.

The Winnipeg-based delivery service was acquired in 2016 by Just Eat, a European delivery conglomerate that later merged with Takeaway.com and also owns Grubhub, among other platforms. Skip grew substantially in 2021 following massive growth in 2020. Delivery orders were up more than 31% last year, and revenues (reported by the company as gross transaction value) were up about 36%.

(ICYMI: TikTok’s first-ever US ad was an app install ad for food delivery company GrubHub that ran on January 26, 2019.). The US is TikTok’s largest ad market. More than half of the $11.64 billion TikTok will generate in global ad revenues this year will come from the US.

In comparison, competitors like Grubhub historically only worked with restaurants that provided their own delivery. The company has also focused on suburbs and smaller urban areas. These decisions positioned DoorDash for success in 2020, as indoor dining was limited or stopped in many areas. The company also offers convenience, alcohol, and grocery deliveries.

Companies like Grubhub and Uber Eats have seen an influx of usage during the pandemic. In its most recent earnings, Grubhub reported that the number of active diners grew to 27.5 million in Q2 2020 from 20.3 million in Q2 2019—an increase of 35%.

While this is a major issue for DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub, many restaurants will decide to stay on these apps. This consumer habit will stick around because of the conveniences associated with online ordering, and most people won’t receive vaccines until the summer.”.

Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Postmates lagged behind, but the four companies still represented a combined 96.3% of all digital restaurant marketplace sales, leaving smaller platforms in their wake. More like this:. Article: On-demand delivery services power up across the globe. Article: In 2021, online grocery sales will surpass $100 billion.

To reach a wider audience, as well as make up for lost sales, many restaurants teamed up with services like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats. To round out the top five categories, health/fitness apps (28.5% growth), dating apps (21.3%), and news apps (17.5%) also soared in 2020 as more people relied on them to stay on track with their fitness goals, meet new people, and stay informed.

Grubhub, for example, announced last week that it would temporarily suspend commission fees for independent restaurants during the crisis. The CEO of Zoom said the company would donate videoconferencing services to K-12 schools. Alphabet subsidiary Verily is working on a pilot project to help people in the San Francisco Bay Area understand whether they should seek a COVID-19 test.

We'll then identify the ways restaurants can digitize—through in-house development, first-party payments providers, or third-party competitors like Grubhub—and determine which players are best suited to help in this endeavor. Finally, we'll highlight key priorities these players can focus on to win restaurant clients and capture volume, and evaluate providers operating most effectively in the space.