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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> World Economy -> 
Uber Eats goes local to find its niche in South African food fight
    2020-01-06  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

A STONE’S throw from Nelson Mandela’s former home in South Africa’s Soweto township, Dumile Badela’s restaurant is now more hectic and lucrative than ever, thanks to Uber Eats, his hungriest customer yet.

Having already dominated Africa’s ride-hailing sector, Uber is trying to conquer the food delivery market by leveraging its massive fleet of drivers in the continent’s most developed economy and tracking popular food choices and destinations.

The prize is big. The country’s online food delivery industry was worth 10.49 billion rand (US$713 million) in 2019, according to data portal Statista. And with growth pegged at nearly 14 percent annually, it will hit 17.6 billion rand by 2023.

Surprisingly perhaps, Uber got off to a tricky start.

An initial focus on high-end restaurants proved to be a mistake in a country perpetually on the verge of recession. The San Francisco-based app is now targeting traditional, local fare.

In May, it launched in Soweto, where it works with around 20 partners and is adding more local foods to its 480,000 menu items, dispatching dishes like stewed tripe, caterpillars, cow heels and sheep’s head to mostly middle-class customers who crave a taste of home.

“I’d say Uber Eats has improved our sales by about 15 percent to 20 percent. But I’m targeting even more, up to 50 percent,” Badela said. “There’s huge opportunity.”

It could be a win-win; Uber posted a US$1.16 billion third-quarter loss and Uber Eats is the company’s fastest-growing business, contributing more than 10 percent of its quarterly revenue of US$3.8 billion.

Uber isn’t alone in wanting a large piece of the South African pie.

Launched in the early 1990s as a call-and-deliver service, South Africa’s Mr. D Food — part of Naspers-controlled e-commerce firm Take-a-Lot — is the established player.

Some 2 million South Africans have downloaded its app. It boasts 700,000 active monthly users, and over the past 12 months processed 1.5 billion rand in food orders.

Uber Eats said it’s recorded 2.1 million app downloads since its 2016 launch, but declined to give figures for food sales.

Between them, the two companies have captured around 80 to 90 percent of South Africa’s food-hailing market, according to research firm Insight Surveys.

They’ll soon be joined by Bolt, the ride-hailing firm formerly known as Taxify, which is Uber’s main competition in Africa. The Estonian company plans to launch its food delivery service in South Africa soon. (SD-Agencies)

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