“Based on the findings, 10.9% of netizens had ordered food delivery for the first time during the research period while 22.1% had increased the number of delivery orders,” said Mandy Wang, industry analyst with MIC.

When it comes to the most popular food delivery platforms in Taiwan, 79.6% of netizens in Taiwan have ordered through Foodpanda, 60.8% through UberEats, 8.3% through foodmo, 7.6% through websites of restaurants, and 5.3% through JKOS. Up to 77.3% of netizens who ordered food delivery before said they will continue to do so.

The findings also revealed that 50.4% of netizens order food delivery to save time, 39.4% to reduce physical contacts with other people, 38.7% because of discounts, 38.3% for bad weather conditions and/or just wanting to stay home, and 26.4% due to a wide variety of food delivery choices.

Taking the first-timers and the number of delivery orders into account, reducing physical contacts with other people is a major growth driver in the research period. Despite the popularity of food delivery, there are several factors to prevent people from ordering food delivery.

The results suggest 44.3% of netizens do not want to order food delivery due to extra delivery costs, 23.7% due to higher food prices compared to eating in stores, 23.3% due to lack of online food ordering experience, 19.8% because they still prefer to dine in restaurants, and 12.2% due to limited food delivery choices in their neighborhoods.