Vietnam’s food delivery service posts highest growth in SEA
Vietnamese consumers increasingly prefer to order ready-to-eat meals via apps due to the convenience and various promotional offers.
Vietnam’s food delivery market grew 26% in the past year, the fastest in Southeast Asia, according to Momentum Works.
| Food delivery services in Vietnam are on the rise. Photo: Khanh Ly/The Hanoi Times |
The report “Food Delivery Platforms in Southeast Asia” by Singapore-based venture capital firm Momentum Works estimates that Vietnam’s online food delivery market expanded from US$1.4 billion in 2023 to $1.8 billion last year.
GrabFood and ShopeeFood dominate the market with 48% and 47% of the share, respectively. BeFood accounts for 4%, while Gojek’s GoFood had a 1% share before exiting Vietnam in September 2024.
The growth of the food delivery market is driven by three key factors: consumers, restaurants, and platforms. Vietnamese consumers increasingly prefer to order ready-to-eat meals via apps due to the convenience and various promotional offers, noted the report.
A survey last year by market research firm Q&Me found that 30% of respondents ordered food delivery for lunch, ranking second only to bringing home-cooked meals (46%) and ahead of eating out (12%).
During the recent Tet holiday, a GrabFood survey found that 19% of respondents ordered food delivery for their year-end celebrations. Additionally, snacking culture plays a role in keeping food delivery platforms busy, with bubble tea (77%) and desserts (37%) being the most popular choices, according to Q&Me.
Restaurants are also actively joining these platforms to reach more customers. As of November 2024, GrabFood reported a fivefold increase in the number of merchant partners compared to its first year of operations in June 2018.
For platforms, the race to attract users forces them to continuously offer discounts, enhance service features, and integrate entertainment elements.
| Students are among major customers of food delivery services. |
According to the e-Conomy SEA 2024 report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, the combined ride-hailing and food delivery market in Vietnam reached $4 billion last year, up 12% from 2023. It is projected to grow to $9 billion by 2030, indicating significant growth potential.
Despite having the fastest growth rate in the region, Vietnam’s food delivery market remains the smallest among the six Southeast Asian countries covered in the report, alongside Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia. Indonesia leads the way with a $5.4 billion market, growing at the second-fastest rate of 18%.
Momentum Works notes that Vietnam and Indonesia were the key drivers of Southeast Asia’s food delivery market recovery last year, contributing to the sector’s 13% growth, bringing the total gross merchandise value (GMV) to $19.3 billion.
The overall F&B sector in the region grew at a slower rate of 4.6% in 2024, but food delivery services continued to expand due to new customer segments and platform innovations.
Jianggan Li, Founder and CEO of Momentum Works, stated that after years of prioritizing profitability, leading food delivery platforms in Southeast Asia have regained momentum to drive the next phase of growth.
