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.

Many mobile app categories saw a boost last year as more consumers spent time with their devices during quarantines. According to our estimates for smartphone app user growth, grocery apps, food delivery apps, and health/fitness apps were the three fastest-growing categories in 2020.

DoorDash is dominating the digital food fight

Following increased demand due to the pandemic, digital restaurant marketplace sales are on track to finish the year with $44.94 billion in sales, more than double the $20.08 billion in 2019.

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.

As the restaurant industry faces continued operational challenges and indoor dining constraints loom across the country, many consumers are turning to food delivery apps.

As the government continues to wrestle with the coronavirus pandemic, US consumers and news organizations have rediscovered one of the things that made social media so valuable: Democratizing information about a fast-moving global story brings to light important narratives that official sources may miss, ignore or suppress.

When Steven Tristan Young, CMO at social commerce marketplace Poshmark, started his career two decades ago, he knew he’d be doing so with the goal of leading a marketing team like Poshmark’s: one focused on brand strategy and aggressive, yet thoughtful, growth.

eMarketer junior forecasting analyst Nazmul Islam and principal analyst Andrew Lipsman tell us the likelihood that your food delivery driver has eaten some of your meal. How are people using food delivery apps, and how can they make the unit economics work for everyone?

TikTok, the Chinese short-video app, is taking off in the US, India and elsewhere. It offers many unique marketing opportunities, such as the Hashtag Challenge, but marketers should take note of some risks.

Food delivery apps are rapidly growing in popularity, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast on mobile app usage. This year, these apps will be used by 38.0 million people in the US, up 21.0% over 2018. By 2021, more than 20% of US smartphone users will use a food delivery app.

Food delivery, while once niche, is becoming more mainstream. This year saw the explosion of fast food giants like McDonald's and Burger King going all-in on digital ordering and delivery through partnerships with UberEats and Grubhub, momentum that's certain to continue throughout 2019.

Food delivery, common in urban areas where population is dense and car ownership is low, is expanding to the suburbs and beyond thanks to the rise of digital services connecting users to restaurants.

According to a new survey from Fetch, more than four in 10 consumers say have ordered food to go while on their daily commute.

Along with meal kits and instant ramen, food delivery has vastly altered the American palate for at-home dining. But despite growing competition in the digital delivery space, not everyone has embraced it.