Only 25% of Moroccans use meal delivery apps, finds new study

Glovo, Jumia Food, Kaalix, and many other meal delivery applications have garnered increased popularity after the COVID-19 pandemic.

One would think that the majority of Moroccans would adopt meal delivery apps in their daily lives but only 25% of the population use this digital service, according to a recent study by Sunergia.

Although Moroccans continue to evolve towards a digitalized and connected mode of consumption and are integrating new technologies into their daily lives, Sunergia’s study showed that 75% of Moroccan consumers use the Food tech service and 8% don’t know about it, which means that use rate remains relatively low.

The study shows that Moroccans order more meals at the end of the day (dinner making up 51% of orders) rather than in the middle of the day (lunch 40%) with an average basket of MAD 130 and MAD 314 for groceries.

The most ordered meals in Morocco are burgers, coming in the first position, followed by sushi and pizza.

It turns out that one in four Moroccans uses meal delivery applications. This rate increases to 37% in urban areas according to figures collected a representative sample of the population and the Jumia food report in “Morocco Food Index 2020”.

Food tech users represent 34% of the Casablanca region citizens, 17% of the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region, 12% of Fes-Meknes’s, 11% of Marrakesh- Safi’s, 9% of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, 6% in each of Beni-Mellal-Khenifra and Souss-Massa regions and 5% in others.

The rate of use of delivery applications is excellent compared to the African continent average which is 2.26% but it remains lower than other countries including France, where it reaches 46% in 2020, and the USA where it reaches 47% in 2021.

Whereas for the users profile, the study showed that the young population (35% single and 41% aged 18 to 24) are more likely to use delivery applications, followed by residents of central Morocco (34%) and urban regions (37%) and by wealthy socio-professional class A and B (49%).

Meanwhile, the refractory profiles represent 11% of seniors (45 years and older), 19% of divorced people, 20% of residents of the north and east regions,19% of residents of the south region and 12% of the low-socio-professional class D and E.

Glovo is unsurprisingly at the top of the list of applications most used by Moroccans, with a 58% usage rate among users of these services. This usage rate is higher among young people aged 25 to 34 (67%) according to the same study.

The Negerian start-up Jumia Food has a usage rate of 41%, more among young people aged 18 to 24 (49%).

Other applications that stand out with a cumulative usage rate of only 1% are KAALIX, Facebook, Allo Smail, Natsakharlik, and Jibli-m3ak.

Four factors represent the main obstacles to the use of delivery applications in Morocco representing 89% of the blockages.

The study listed them as follows: the preference for home-made food, lack of knowledge of delivery applications, the price barrier and the lack of interest which explains the lowering of the rate.