The food and grocery delivery apps DoorDash, getir, Gopuff, Gorillas, JOKR, and Buyk have raised $5.5 billion from venture capitalists since 2020. So, we used our app intelligence solutions to peek under their hoods.
Over the last couple years, 15-minute grocery delivery apps have raised billions of dollars from venture capitalists, but they’ve also raised quite a few skeptical eyebrows. Indeed, enticing as the promise of near-instant delivery may be, the economics don’t seem to add up.
Take the “Epically”-named, Brooklyn-based instant delivery startup Fridge No More, for instance. According to The Hustle, they were losing more than $3 per order and spending $70 to acquire each customer. Assuming they had no other revenue streams (in-app advertising, subscriptions, etc.), that’s not exactly a recipe for success.
Nevertheless, the 15-minute grocery delivery model does appear to have a viable path forward, though it’s narrow and relies on hyperlocal warehouses, instant labor, and high-value non-perishable products. An industry insider speaking to the Wall Street Journal put it this way: “If it’s a toothbrush and banana, that’s not going to work.”
In any event, this doesn’t seem to be deterring VCs. Just six food and grocery delivery apps have already raised over $5.5 billion dollars. DoorDash, getir, Gopuff, Gorillas, JOKR, and Buyk have managed to convince the folks on Sand Hill Road and elsewhere that they’ve got a plan and can deliver the goods (so to speak).
As such, we thought we’d take this opportunity to use our app intelligence solutions to take a peek under the hoods of these apps. Here’s what we’ll cover (click the links below to jump to the relevant sections):
The Top 6 Grocery Delivery Apps
1. getir: groceries in minutes by getir
- Short Description: Getir delivers groceries to your door in minutes, day or night.
- 30-Day Android Downloads: 2,728,840
- 30-Day iOS Downloads: 1,516,213
2. DoorDash - Food Delivery by DoorDash
- Short Description: Get your favorite restaurants delivered straight to your door.
- 30-Day Android Downloads: 1,139,853
- 30-Day iOS Downloads: 2,083,089
3. Gopuff—Alcohol & Food Delivery by Gopuff
- Short Description: Order from the Gopuff app to have the essentials you need delivered to your door.
- 30-Day Android Downloads: 173,151
- 30-Day iOS Downloads: 169,539
4. Gorillas: Grocery Delivery by Gorillas Technologies GmbH
- Short Description: Groceries Delivered in 10 Minutes
- 30-Day Android Downloads: 131,219
- 30-Day iOS Downloads: 127,790
5. JOKR - Fast Grocery Delivery by JOKR Digital
- Short Description: Special food & products that you love, delivered fast to your home in 15 minutes
- 30-Day Android Downloads: 37,469
- 30-Day iOS Downloads: 23,533
6. Buyk - Food Delivery by Buyk
- Short Description: Instant grocery delivery service.
- 30-Day Android Downloads: 1,129
- 30-Day iOS Downloads: 1,565
Analysis of the Top Grocery Delivery Apps in 2022
Global Downloads (February 17th, 2021 - February 16th, 2022)
Android
In the chart above you’ll find daily global downloads for the Android versions of getir, DoorDash, Gorillas, Gopuff, JOKR, and Buyk. In particular, this chart depicts downloads between February 17th, 2021 and February 16th, 2022.
Getir and DoorDash lead the pack by a fairly wide margin, with 17,478,611 and 16,431,255 downloads, respectively, over the last year. Next comes Gorillas (1,583,866), Gopuff (1,431,866), JOKR (410,967), and Buyk (26,582).
In addition, getir had by far the best single day performance over the last year, with 398,156 downloads on December 15th, 2021. DoorDash (127,707 downloads on September 20th), Gorillas (30,718 on May 30th), Gopuff (16,879 on January 4th), JOKR (5,687 on September 20th), and Buyk (632 on November 2nd) haven’t managed to match this single-day output, but most have still generated impressive numbers over the last year.
iOS
This chart is just like the previous one, except that it focuses on the iOS versions of these apps. Likewise, it shows downloads between February 17th, 2021 and February 16th, 2022.
Once again, DoorDash and getir are the big winners. They notched 25,389,159 and 9,082,779 downloads a piece. After them comes Gorillas (1,463,774), Gopuff (163,300), JOKR (159,615), and Buyk (17,319).
DoorDash had the best single day performance, with 131,614 downloads on July 19th, 2021. Then came getir (67,927 downloads on December 25th), Gorillas (17,661 on May 27th), Gopuff (9,878 on January 3rd), JOKR (4,633 on June 26th), and Buyk (381 on October 13th).
Top Chart Rankings (February 17th, 2021 - February 16th, 2022)
Android
Next up, let’s take a look at the Android top chart rankings in the United States for each grocery delivery app between February 17th, 2021 and February 16th, 2022. Please note that while most of these apps fall under the “Food & Drink” categories, getir and Gorillas are “Shopping” apps. (This information is visible in the 30-day summary image in the first section of this article.)
DoorDash and Gopuff are easily the highest ranked of these apps in the U.S. Indeed, DoorDash has been a perennial top-5 “Food & Drink” app and Gopuff rarely fell below 30th.
What’s perhaps more surprising — considering its popularity in terms of downloads — is that getir only began climbing the U.S. charts in October of 2021. It’s currently a top 200 “Shopping” app, but at this time last year, it wasn’t even in the top 400.
Of course, this could be due to the fact that competition is stiffer in the “Shopping” category than in the “Food & Drink” category. For comparison’s sake, Buyk peaked at 51st in the “Food & Drink” category, substantially higher than getir’s top ranking, despite having barely a fraction of getir’s downloads.
Consider this “food for thought” for the app store optimization (ASO) folks at getir…
iOS
Finally, here are the iOS top chart rankings in the United States. Once again, these are rankings between February 2021 and February 2022. The one difference here is that all apps, except getir (still a “Shopping” app), fall under the “Food & Drink” genre.
Just as with the Android apps, DoorDash and Gopuff reign supreme. DoorDash spent the vast majority of the year in the top spot, while Gopuff maxed out at 10th. Buyk was the only other app to crack the top 100, reaching 74th on October 13th.
Getir, meanwhile, has yet to chart in the U.S. This is again, in all likelihood, due to getir’s categorization, and again a reminder of the importance of ASO!
Final Thoughts
These days, convenience is king. Consumers have come to expect everything at the push of a button — from groceries to transportation, entertainment, and even pet care. So, the demand is there. That’s why 15-minute delivery apps exist and that’s why they’ve generated millions of downloads.
The only remaining question is, can they make the model work? If The Hustle and The Wall Street Journal are to be believed, then companies like DoorDash, getir, and Gopuff have their work cut out for them.
Of course, there are ways around questionable margins. Balance sheets can be bolstered with things like in-app advertising, brand partnerships, premium memberships, and expanded services. Indeed, gimmicky 15-minute grocery deliveries can theoretically be implemented as loss-leader services, while corporate brain trusts and bean counters work behind the scenes to make the numbers work long term.
Still, only time will tell if these services are really worth the $5.5 billion they’ve raised. And whether or not these apps figure it out down the stretch, our numbers clearly indicate that consumers find value in what they are promising.
If you want to keep an eye on the most popular food and grocery delivery apps, schedule a demo to learn more about the 42matters App Watchlist.
