foodpanda sets foot in Japan with 'large share' allocated for marketing

Delivery service foodpanda has expanded its operations into Japan. Launching in six cities, foodpanda will be offering delivery services for food, groceries and more, with a focus on expanding choice, speed and service for both consumers and businesses across Japan.

foodpanda Japan will launch with a dual focus on growing its core food delivery business, as well as its quick-commerce, offerings where it partners with local retailers to provide daily essentials beyond food. Quick-commerce represents the next generation of eCommerce, where consumers are able to purchase their necessities on-demand, to be delivered within 25 minutes. In addition, the foodpanda app will also offer a pick-up feature where consumers are able to collect their orders personally in-store.

Eric Wei, CEO, foodpanda Japan, said Japan is a market foodpanda has long admired, and the market expansion is "an important step" in making food and grocery delivery accessible to everyone in Asia. In a press conference, Jakob Sebastian Angele, CEO APAC of foodpanda, added that since food delivery is not as established in Japan yet, foodpanda is looking to use this opportunity to be a market leader in Japan.

According to Angele, foodpanda is planning to invest 20 million euros (approximately US$23,695,100) in foodpanda Japan. Although unable to reveal how much will be used for marketing efforts, Angele said "a large share" has been allocated for marketing activities. He also hints of a tailor-made campaign that will be released in the upcoming weeks.

The marketing message behind the campaign will revolve around the idea that food is about emotion and fun. 

Angele also said that there is a sizable local marketing team set up, and Wei will oversee all marketing operations in foodpanda Japan.

A spokesperson from foodpanda has also said it will be rolling out its marketing efforts across a combination of offline and digital platforms progressively as it launches across the various cities. Digital channels and social media forms a larger part of its marketing plans, supplemented by OOH advertising. 

The delivery company will be partnering with small, medium restaurants and grocery businesses as well as larger national partners for its platform, aiming to offer a new platform that helps bring many of these businesses online for greater customer reach, and increased revenue. This comes as foodpanda sees an expected revenue growth in the online food delivery segment in Japan.

According to Statista, the segment is predicted to grow by 23.6% in 2020, a spike from the 14.4% growth seen in 2019. User penetration in Japan also stands at 16.6%, compared to other markets in the region such Singapore (41%) and Hong Kong (36.7%), and holds further growth potential as COVID-19 increases consumer demand for safe and convenient doorstep deliveries for food and daily essentials.

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