KSA online food delivery market could touch $200 million by 2020

Online food delivery in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will continue to expand at a fast pace to reach $200 million by 2020, according to Otlob.com, a Saudi Arabia-based online food delivery platform. The dine-in, takeaway and delivery and online food industry is the Kingdom is expected to reach $9.7 billion by 2020, marking an increase of 38%. The demand will be fuelled by the high gross domestic product (GDP), well-urbanised regions, changing lifestyles and an emerging online culture of a young and tech-savvy population.

“The consumer foodservice sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been growing tremendously, and is expected to continue on the same trajectory. Estimated at a total value of $6.9 billion, the growth of the sector is driven by a young futuristic population, rising purchasing power and internet connectivity and modern and changing lifestyles.

This presents a tremendous opportunity for both the delivery/take-away subsector which is estimated at 23% of the total market, or about $1.6 billion. Of that, the share of the online food delivery is just 0.3%, or $4.8 million. Both traditional food delivery and online food delivery currently have lower penetration rates compared to other countries around the world, which creates big opportunities for food retailers in the Kingdom,” says Sami Zaki, general manager of Otlob.com.

“Restaurants and food chains are now creating an online presence through Otlob.com to become an extension of their brick-and-mortar outlet. This allows them to reach a wider range of customers. For consumers, Otlob.com offers a convenient, time-saving, user-friendly online marketplace with the widest gastronomic range from which they can choose on the online platform or via Otlob.com mobile apps for iOS or Android,” adds Zaki.